


The (Mis)Adventures of the Hale Brothers

by 42hrb



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Alive Hale Family, Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - No Hale Fire, Alternate Universe - Werewolf, Baseball Player Derek Hale, Hale Family Feels, Happy Derek, M/M, Magical Stiles Stilinski, So many Hales, Spark Stiles Stilinski, Sterek Big Bang, Sterek Big Bang Challenge, hale sibling feels
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-24
Updated: 2016-10-24
Packaged: 2018-08-22 00:11:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 17
Words: 28,572
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8265523
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/42hrb/pseuds/42hrb
Summary: Derek Hale has always been close with his family, especially his two younger brothers, Matt and Brandon. One summer Derek's middle brother Matt's roommate comes to stay.  Stiles isn't exactly what Derek expected, but he is  exactly  Derek's type.  This could be trouble.As the summer wears on Derek and Stiles get closer and sparks start to fly.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Amazing[art](https://sterekseason.tumblr.com/post/152268213537/the-misadventures-of-the-hale-brothers-inspired#notes) by [destielwinchi](http://destielwinchi.livejournal.com). Seriously, it's amazing.  
> Extra special thank you to [Gabs](wibblywobblytimeywimeygirl.tumblr.com) for being the best beta and cheerleader. Also thank you to [Inell](inell.tumblr.com) for encouraging me to do this and being there with me while I complained about writers block.  
>   
> Inspired by a not!fic I wrote on [tumblr](https://sterekseason.tumblr.com/post/148304979337/this-is-clearly-derek-michael-and-brandon-hale) a while back.
> 
> [tumblr](exhuastedpigeon.tumblr.com)

If anyone ever saw a little dark haired, hazel eyed, sharp cheekboned child running around Beacon Hills, they didn’t even have to ask if it was a Hale, everyone just knew. Between Alexander and Natalie Hale, Maria and Patrick Hale, and Talia and Joseph Hale there were already 12 Hale spawns running around the area, and the two youngest of that generation hadn’t started having kids yet. 

Alex and Natalie had three kids over seven years; Alex was the eldest of that Hale brood and he and his wife moved out of the old Hale house into the quiet area of town that hadn’t quite been developed yet.  Maria and Patrick Hale had three kids in five years; Maria had started having kids at the same time as her twin sister Talia and finished having them at the same time too, but she didn’t have nearly as many. Maria and Patrick lived in a big old house off of Main Street with a large fenced in yard and perfectly manicured lawn; it was the opposite of the Hale House in most ways, but the same in the ways that mattered, because it was filled with love too. 

Then there was Talia and Joseph Hale who somehow managed to have six kids, all within just over 5 years of each other, and some days other people wondered how they manage it.  Honestly, most people wondered about all three of the Hale families handled their children since they all seemed to be constantly in motion. Most people didn’t know that the Hales were werewolves.

Laura and Derek were the oldest of Talia and Joseph’s kids, born just six minutes apart.  Laura proudly touts that she’s older than Derek and therefore in charge of him; Derek usually just lets her have it because it’s not worth fighting with her.  Then there’s Michael who was born nearly 12 months to the day after Laura and Derek, then Cora just a year after him, then Brandon 11 months later. Finally, there was Nora who was born two years after Brandon and five years after Derek and Laura. 

“Brandon!” Talia Hale yelled, her voice carrying further than normal with a slight hint of alpha in it, “Brandon Joseph Hale if you don’t come out right now, I will make you spend this weekend with your Uncle Peter.”

At the threat, Brandon slunk out of his bedroom, his hair sleep mussed and his shirt on backwards, “But Mom, I don’t want to go to the second grade, Laura says in the second grade the teachers are allowed to give you an F if you don’t like spelling.”

Talia let out a sigh, she was going to have to have a talking to with her eldest daughter, who she could hear running out the front door at that very moment. She would be happy when the bus came and picked up all six of her children so she would get some work done, but for now she had to calm a seven year old, make sure her five year old had on matching shoes, get five dollars for her eight year old so she could go to the science center, and hope that her oldest son had packed lunches for everyone. 

“Sweetie,” she said a second later, “I promise you that second grade won’t be any scarier than first grade and your teacher will be nice. Ask Derek, Ms. Martin was his second grade teacher too.”

“She was?” Brandon asked, his voice sounding exponentially lighter after hearing that his big brother had survived second grade with the same teacher.  When his mom nodded, his face broke into a grin and he ran past her calling, “Derek! Derek!”

“Turn your shirt around,” Talia yelled after him, listening as he skittered to a stop in the kitchen. “Michael Alexander Hale you better have put on underwear!”

She heart Mikey’s door open and close again and shook her head.  What had she and Joseph been thinking, having 6 kids in 5 years?  They could have stopped after the first three and had as many as the rest of the family, but she didn’t regret it.  Each of her six children were special to her and they had a great dynamic that even she hadn’t had with her siblings.  Derek and Laura were their leaders as they all charged into the world, they were really lucky to have six wonderful kids, even if they could be little shits sometimes. 

By the time all of the kids were on the bus, Talia was ready for a nap.  This was the last time Joseph was allowed to work an overnight at the firehouse on the first day of school.  She was pretty sure he had done it on purpose, especially after last year's disaster of a first day.  They had to go to the office before lunch because Laura and Derek had been fighting, not with other students, but with each other.  It hadn’t helped that the full moon was that night.  

“Peter!” She yelled, “You have to leave in 10 minutes or you’re going to be late.”

Peter Hale (her youngest brother and the only one of her siblings who was still in high school and still lived at the Hale house) came downstairs looking like trouble, but Peter always looked like trouble.  By the time Peter left for school and Talia had cleaned up the mess in the kitchen that came with Derek making lunches, she was almost excited to get to work. 

Talia was a partner at Hale, Hale, and Hale Law Firm.  She and her sister Maria had joined their mother’s firm when they were fresh out of law school and it was the most successful one in Beacon County.  It also gave her some flexibility with her hours, which she needed with the kids and Joseph working odd hours at the firehouse.  She’d be glad when he finally accepted the position of chief; he’d been offered it once before but had felt like he wasn’t ready just yet.

She drove down the long driveway to the road and smiled she passed the treehouse that her sons had built with their father that summer because Laura had lead Cora and Nora in a girls only movement. Derek hadn’t let Laura win that time, in fact, if Talia had been allowed to take sides as a mom she would have said that the boys won that round. The pillow fort in the living room was fun for a few days until Grandma had come over and made them clean it up, but the boys would have that treehouse forever. 


	2. Chapter 2

Time is a funny thing; it goes by slowly day by day, but when you look back it all seems to have passed in a blur of laughter, tears, and sometimes total chaos. It was no different for the Hale family. It felt like Derek had blinked and suddenly he wasn’t an 11 year old building a treehouse with his two brothers and the help of his dad; instead he was 19, home for the summer after his first year of college.

“Derek!” He heard his middle brother before he saw him as he pulled into the gravel parking area next to the house.  He pulled himself out of his old red pickup truck that he had scrimped and saved for.  He had spent many a night bussing tables at the diner in town, mowed lawns, and babysat. By the time he was ready to buy a car he could have afforded something much newer and nicer, but he wanted his Uncle Patrick’s old Chevy so he socked the rest of his money away in a growth account and called it a day.

Matt was standing on the front porch, his hair a little longer than it had been when Derek had come home for spring break and he had a little scruff on his face.  When Derek made it to the porch he grabbed his younger brother by the chin and said, “Nice.”

“You can’t talk,” Matt said with a laugh, eying Derek’s full beard with something like envy in his eyes.

“At least mine isn’t patchy,” Derek snarked back, then looked around. “Where’s Brandon?”

“Already at the treehouse,” Mike said with a grin before he took off running toward their favorite spot on the property.  

Mike was a few inches shorter than Derek at only 5’10”, but he was fast, even for a werewolf. Derek had learned to race dirty years before, so he tackled his brother before getting back up and taking off again. “Cheater!” Brandon yelled from his perch on a thick branch just above the now weather worn but still sturdy treehouse.

“All’s fair in love and treehouse races,” Derek retorted with a laugh as he jumped and caught himself on a branch before heaving himself up and into the treehouse.

“That wasn't funny the first time you said it and it’s still not funny now,” Mike said as he appeared behind Derek in the opening and stepped inside.

“I think it’s funny,” Derek said with a laugh, flopping down onto one of the old beanbag chairs that they had stashed up in their hideaway.

The treehouse had started as just a few pieces of wood, but when their dad came home from work and saw it, he’d decided it was in everyone's best interest if there was an adult present for the construction since even werewolves could really hurt themselves falling out of a tree or falling through a loose board.

That summer they (read: Joseph) had built a spacious treehouse around the trunk of one of the old and sturdy oak trees that was just out of view of the front of the house. It was a big treehouse, tall enough for Joseph to stand up without hitting his head.  There were two ways into the house: the ladder at the front, and up the trunk through a small trap door.  They rarely used those entrances though, since the windows were great to climb through if you were on one of the branches.

Every summer after that they had added something to it, so now sort of looked like how Derek had always pictured the Burrow. It had a second story and even a little attic space above that. They had added a few pegs to help their human friends climb higher on the tree to their lookout platform that they had added three years back, when Laura, Cora, and Nora had tried to take the treehouse by force.  

It was a strong and sturdy treehouse that could hold over 5000 pounds of additional weight. They hadn’t tested beyond that, but Derek was confident in their additions, and he knew that their dad had gone to their Uncle Patrick who was an engineer to help with the design the first time around.  Now, Derek was studying to be an architect, and he fully believed that this treehouse would outlive the actual house.

“So how was college bro?” Brandon asked. He had lowered himself in through a window, and when he stood up, Derek noted how much taller his youngest brother had gotten.  Brandon was 16 and had just finished his sophomore year of high school.  

“You’re almost taller than I am,” Derek said, “You might end up taller than dad.”

“You think?” Brandon said, his green-grey eyes lighting up at the idea.  

Matt laughed and tossed a bottle of water from the cooler they kept at Brandon, “You’ll definitely be at least as tall as dad; you’re already taller than me.”

They spent the rest of the afternoon sprawled around and shooting the shit.  Derek hadn’t really been able to talk to anyone during finals week because he was so busy, and somehow he had missed Matthew getting asked out and dumped by Lydia Martin.  “She only did it to get back at Jackson for being a douche to her about prom,” Matt explained, “She told me before that it was because she was mad at Jax, but I still got to make out with her at lunch so it’s cool.”

Derek rolled his eyes fondly at his brother.  “What about you Brandon? Anyone special in your life?” Derek was careful to phrase the question in a gender neutral way because after he had come out to his family as bisexual last year, Brandon had confided in him that he thought he might not be straight either.

“Nah,” Brandon said, flopping down gracelessly on another bean bag chair and stretching his arms above his head.  Derek noticed that he wasn’t as skinny as he had been when he left for college. “I’ve been busy with lacrosse and debate team, plus I don’t really like anyone like that so why bother wasting my time and theirs.”

“We already know you’re a nerd, Bran,” Matt said with a laugh.  

They all stopped and listened when they heard the telltale sound of Laura’s ridiculous Camaro.  Laura had worked just as hard as Derek had throughout high school to save up for a car and instead of buying an affordable, practical one, she had pulled a Peter and went with the most conspicuous car that she saw on the lot.  It wasn’t even that she loved Camaros, she just liked when people looked at her things.

“She’s ba-ack,” Matt said loudly in his best impression of the little girl from Poltergeist. It wasn’t very good.  

“I heard that you asshole,” Laura yelled from the parking area, but she didn’t come any closer. She had had a few too many bad experiences around the treehouse to risk going within throwing distance of it.  

They heard her grab her the grocery bags from the trunk of her car and head inside before they started talking again, not wanting to risk her overhearing anything they were talking about. Not that it was anything bad; it was just that Laura was nosey enough without knowing every detail of their lives.

“But really Derek,” Matt said, “How was school? Are you glad baseball season is over?”

Derek shrugged; he wasn’t particularly glad it was over, but he wasn’t sad about it either. He had had to stay an extra three weeks after the school year had actually ended for the playoffs, but they had lost in the semifinals.  “I’m glad I’m home” was all he said, leaning back on his beanbag and closing his eyes.  It had been too loud all the time in L.A.; he missed the quiet of the preserve and the familiar sounds of his family and the forest.

“We’re glad you back too, it’s been kind of awful being outnumbered by Laura, Cora, and Nora,” Brandon said, his eyes on his brother’s face, “Plus watching your games on TV is pretty boring; why’d you have to pick a school that’s almost 9 hours away?”

“It seemed like a good idea at the time,” Derek said. He would never admit out loud how much he missed his family, his _pack,_ while he was at school.  His last few years of high school had been kind of  a rough patch for him and most of his family (except for his brothers), and getting away had been everything he wanted, until he got there and realized how much he missed them.

Matt grinned, “That face you’re making is exactly why I’m going to Berkeley.”

“I’m not making a face,” Derek said with a huff, even though he _was_ making a face, “and Berkley is still a few hours away.”

“Yeah, but it’s an easy drive that I can do to come for a weekend,” Matt said.  It was true; Berkeley was only about 3 and a half hours instead of Derek’s nine.

“I can’t believe you’re both leaving me and I’m going to be at home with Cora and Nora,” Brandon groaned, “They’re going to gang up on me all the time.”

Derek and Matt both shuddered at the thought.  “Boys, dinner will be ready in five, get your asses down here,” their mom called from the house.

“We better go before the girls get all the good burgers,” Brandon said, standing up and lowering himself through the trapdoor near the trunk.  Matt climbed out the front door, but Derek didn’t move just then. He took his time, savoring the familiar sights and sounds of the treehouse, of home.  He lowered himself out of a window, dropped a good 15 feet and landed on his feet, knees bent to absorb the shock.

“I’ll pretend I didn’t see that.” He heard the voice of his father behind him and he broke into a wide grin. “Welcome home Derek; we missed you.”


	3. Chapter 3

Summer always sped by too quickly for Matthew Hale’s liking, and this summer was no different.  It felt like he blinked and it went from graduation to the first week of August.  “So, do you know anything about your roommate yet?” Derek asked as they walked through Target, avoiding Cora’s gaze as she restocked shelves in a red shirt. 

“Just that his name is Maciej Stilinski and he apparently hates all social media because I can’t find him on anything, not even LinkedIn. It’s 2016; who doesn’t have a LinkedIn?” Matt asked, his voice almost a whine.

“Don’t worry about it, it’ll be fine,” Derek said, grabbing a planner from the aisle and tossing it into the cart, “I didn’t know Boyd at all when we moved in together and now he’s one of my best friends.”

“I don’t even think this guy plays lacrosse, Derek!”

“That’ll be good too, because Boyd and I both play baseball and we got kind of sick of each other because we were always together,” Derek said reassuringly. Matt felt something loosen his chest at his brother’s words. “Sometimes one of us would go hideout in Isaac’s room to get some space from each other.”

“Which one is Isaac again?”

“Tall, curly hair; he wore a lot of scarves even though it’s never cold enough for scarves in L.A. He was on the cross country team,” Derek said.  Matt could tell that he missed his friends, and sometimes Derek bottled things up because he didn’t want to bother anyone with them.  Matt always tried to ask him about stuff he knew Derek refrained from talking about because he could tell it made him feel better after.

“He dated Erica?” Matt asked, he tossed a set of twin XL sheets into their already pretty full cart and looked up at Derek.

“Yeah, but now he’s dating some guy from home,” Derek said.

“Where’s he from again?” Matt pressed, watching as some of the tension seemed to drain out of Derek.

“He grew up in San Diego, his dad died a few years back and his older brother raised him after that, and Boyd is from Miami, he got a full ride to UCLA for baseball,” Derek said and Matt nodded; he knew all of this already but he’d let Derek ramble about them all day if it would make him stop smelling so sad.  

“Are you excited to go back?”

“I’m getting there,” Derek said with a shrug, “Are you excited to start?”

“Hell yeah,” Matt said with a grin, “I’ll miss everyone but I’m ready for college. It’s going to be a blast, and Mom already set up a meeting for the Bay Area pack so I’ll have some friends like us.”

“I do like the L.A. pack,” Derek said with a warm smile, “They went on really great full moon runs, but it wasn’t the same as being with the pack here.”

“Well, this pack is family,” Matt said with a shrug, so like his older brother’s.  All three of the Hale boys had similar mannerisms from years of cohabitation and shared experiences. 

They headed toward the checkout line and Matt laughed as he stuck his tongue out at Cora, she subtly flipped him the bird and he grinned wider. “So what’s up with you and Lydia Martin? Is she trying to make Jackson jealous again?”

“Nah, I’m pretty sure she’s got a crush on Cora,” Matt said, “She’s always asking about her and I’m this close to just telling her to ask her out. It’s getting kind of annoying to watch because Cora clearly likes her too.”

“Is Lydia in your grade?”

“Nah, she was just in most of the same classes as me because she’s so smart; she’s in Cora’s grade.”

“Maybe they’ll figure it out next school year when you and Jackson are both gone,” Derek said as he swiped their mom’s Target card and started loading the cart full of their bags.

“I’m not all that worried about it,” Matt said and he meant it; he liked Lydia well enough, but Cora was his sister and he didn’t want to know what kind of sexual activity she was getting into. He heard enough about her dating life through the grapevine at school; the last thing he needed was one of his best friends telling him about her sex with his little sister.

Derek nodded in understanding and they walked to the car together. Matt wasn’t taking a car with him to school so he hadn’t bothered buying one; he drove around in his mom’s Toyota SUV if he ever needed to get anywhere.  Derek’s truck was currently up on blocks in their driveway while Uncle Patrick worked on it before Derek had to go back to L.A. 

“Two more weeks until we both head out,” Matt said as they drove by the mall toward home. “Think Brandon will survive without us?”

“One can only hope,” Derek said with a laugh.  They both knew Brandon would be fine; he might be a little more gentle than either of them, but he could certainly take care of himself. 

They saw that Brandon was home when they pulled into the gravel parking area, his bike on the lawn.  “I bet he’s in the treehouse,” Derek said, jumping out of the car before it was in park and took off toward the treehouse.

“You’re a cheater!” Matt called after him, parking the car and running after Derek.  He passed him just as Derek was jumping to catch a branch and pull himself in.  “But I still beat you.” 

“Whatever,” Huffed Derek as he sat on their newly acquired futon and shut his eyes.  “Brandon, you should come visit me this school year. We can call it a college visit but really we’ll just walk around L.A. and wait for someone to try to sign you to a modeling contract or acting agency.”

“Has that happened to you?” Brandon asked, his voice sounding awed and Matt saw the small smile on Derek’s face.  It was pretty easy to impress Brandon, so if you ever wanted to feel good about yourself, you would tell him something because his reactions were so genuine and almost always positive. 

“A couple times,” Derek said, “Boyd convinced me to go to a model open call one time and it turned out it was for some soft core skin mag.”

“No shit,” Matt said as Brandon’s eyes got wide, “Is that where that influx of cash for Christmas presents came from?”

“The world may never know,” Derek said with a smirk.  “B, are you still going to play football this fall?”

“Nah, I think I’m going to focus on lacrosse and debate team this year. Football stopped being fun when I had pretend to have a broken wrist for half the season because everyone saw it snap,” Brandon said. He was probably the best athlete of the bunch, but he was also the least interested in sports. 

“Fair,” Matt said as they heard their mom yelling at them to get the shit out of her car so she could go pick Nora up from the day camp she worked at in the summer. 


	4. Chapter 4

Brandon Hale was  _ not _ looking forward to his brothers both leaving for college. It had been hard enough when just Derek was gone; he didn’t want to think about how bad it would be with both of them away.  It wasn’t that he didn’t have friends at school; he had plenty, but he had grown up with Derek and Matt always there for him and there  _ with _ him. It would be completely different without them.  And it wasn’t that he didn’t love his sisters; he really did, but Cora and Nora weren’t Derek and Matt.

He had taken to hiding out in the treehouse whenever he was home because he felt safe there, but it was also where he felt closest to his brothers.  The treehouse was the first thing that was just  _ theirs _ and it had stayed that way for almost ten years. “Brandon,” Derek said one morning after he had finished teaching swimming lessons at the community center, “Do you want to go on an adventure?”

This was something Derek had started asking when he first got his driver’s licence three years before.  Back then, an adventure had been driving into town and getting ice cream, but these days it usually meant driving somewhere further away and camping or staying the night at a hotel.  “Hell yeah!” Brandon said.

“Pack a bag, don’t forget your swim trunks, and grab Matt will ya?” Derek said as he jogged back toward the house to grab his own stuff. “One last Hale Brothers Adventure before the summer’s end.”

Brandon ran up to his room, he passed Matt’s on his way and pounded on the door. He couldn’t hear him inside but he knew he was there.  They had gotten all of their rooms soundproofed when Derek and Laura had turned 14. It was a gift to everyone, but mostly to their parents because it meant that they didn’t have to hear what their teenage and preteen children were getting up to in the dead of night. 

“Matt, we’re going on an adventure, put on some pants and pack your bag!” Brandon yelled through the door before he ran to his room and grabbed the gym bag he had had packed after their last adventure back in June. 

Twenty minutes later, they were all crammed into the cab of Derek’s truck, bags in the back, and the windows rolled down letting the warm summer air rush over them.  “I can’t believe summer’s almost over already,” Brandon said from his spot in the passenger seat.  He was lucky that he was already taller than Matt, he used to get stuck in the middle. 

“We aren’t talking about that today,” Derek said, his voice left no room for argument.

“Where are we going?” Matt asked, his arm was slung over the back of Brandon’s seat to give him a little more space.  They were all used to casual touches and close quarters as werewolves, but in the summer heat it wasn’t something any of them really wanted and Derek’s air conditioner took almost 20 minutes to really kick into gear. 

“Do you remember Trinity Lake? The one Grandpa Jack used to take us to when were little?”

Both brothers nodded and smiled softly to themselves remembering their late grandfather. He was their dad’s dad, and he had been a wild mountain man before he passed away.  He had died in his sleep a few years back and it had reminded them that even werewolves were subject to death eventually, even if he had been 99.  

“I can’t believe Grandpa Jack didn’t have kids until he was 50.” Matt said with a little laugh.

“I can’t believe he married a 25 year old when he was 50 and managed to outlive her,” Brandon said with another laugh.  None of them had met their dad’s mom; she had died when their dad was still a kid. She had been human, and according to their dad, she could keep up with the werewolves when she was healthy, but cancer got her when he was only 15. 

“I can believe both of those,” Derek said, a small smile on his face.  “So, he left the three of us his cabin up at the lake and he left his beach house to Laura, Cora, and Nora. Mom didn’t want us going up there when we were just old enough to drive, but now she’s okay with it.”

“So we own the cabin?” Brandon asked, his voice excited and his eyes wide.  That house had been one of their favorite places as kids.

“Yep,” Derek said, his smile had turned into a full on grin now and he looked so much like their dad and grandpa that it kind of made Brandon’s chest hurt. He hadn’t thought about Grandpa Jack in a long time, but now that he was thinking about him, he had a smile on his face too.  They all loved their Grandpa Henry, but he wasn’t Grandpa Jack.

The lake was just over an hour away from their house in Beacon Hills, and with Derek driving, they got there in just under an hour. They unloaded their bags and the food into the kitchen of the cabin; the fridge still worked and Derek laughed when he saw that Grandpa Jack had left them each a note and had given strict instructions to not let Bandon touch the generator because he would probably hurt himself if he did. 

That night found all three of them stretching out on their blankets outside looking up at the stars. Brandon found it hard to believe that he was really here and that this time next week his brothers would both be off at college and he’d be left at home. “You’ll be fine,” Matt said, as if he had heard his thoughts. 

“It’ll be weird without you guys,” Brandon said, his eyes anywhere but his brothers.

“Before you know it, you’ll be off at school too,” Derek said with a small smile, “And then I’ll be moving back to Beacon Hills after graduation and then we’ll all be back, if that’s what you want to do.”

“Maybe I’ll date while you guys are gone,” Brandon joked; he wasn’t the dating type, he just hadn’t really felt like he had met anyone that he’d be willing to spend the time and effort on yet.

“I bet Derek will love again before you ever date anyone,” Matt said with a shit eating grin.  Derek hadn’t dated since his sophomore year of high school when his girlfriend had moved away and Derek, in a fit of teenage angst had sworn up and down he’d never love again.

“I hate you both,” Derek grumbled with no heat behind the words. “And I went on a couple dates while I was at school, it just didn’t work out. It didn’t feel right.”

“You’re such a sappy little shit,” Matt said.  He was the brother with the most game, very smooth and charming.  He also managed to accumulate a lot of friends with benefits in high school; he became the guy that girls went to when they wanted to make someone jealous.  He also treated every girl he dated or hooked up with with the utmost respect, because at his core, he was a mama’s boy and Talia Hale had raised her children to respect their partners and to not lead people on.  The end result with Matt was that he was a ladies man who always put his cards on the table before anything started, and if some girls thought they could change him, it wasn’t his fault when they realized they couldn’t. 

Derek, on the other hand, was sappy and a romantic at heart.  He had met and fell in love with Paige when he was just 15, and when she had moved away he had been devastated.  He hadn’t dated again in high school and the few dates he went on in college ended in friendship because Derek was looking for his ‘great love’, the person who he could be himself around, the person that was the perfect compliment to himself.  But Derek also wasn’t looking for anyone, he didn’t mind being single.  He knew that love would find him eventually and that he’d know it when it did.

“I wish it was a full moon,” Brandon said wistfully.  They had spent many a full moon out here with their family, running wild and free because there was no one else for miles. 

“We can run even though it’s not,” Derek said, sitting up and tugging his shirt over his head, “I’ll race you to the tree with the rope!”

When they made their way back to civilization two days later, they were all exhausted but completely at ease, even Brandon. 

“I’ll see if mom will let me come visit over Halloween,” Brandon said as he helped Derek pack up his truck to head back to school. 

“And I’m coming back for Uncle Peter’s wedding at the end of September,” Derek reminded him “Plus, you’ll be able to go down and visit Matt more than you can visit me.”

“I’m going to miss you,” Brandon said, hugging Derek tightly, savoring the scent of his older brother.  He hadn’t known how much he missed it until he was gone when Derek left last time.

“I’ll miss you too, but you have to let me go. Traffic is going to be hell through the Bay Area.”

Matt came outside just then; he hugged Brandon tightly and then got into the cab of the truck.  Derek was taking him to school on his way back down to UCLA since neither of their parents could get out of work.  When your dad’s the fire chief and your mom’s the district attorney for the county, hours can be weird.  Brandon remembered when his dad had just been a captain of one of the firehouses and his mom had worked at the family law firm, but that seemed like a lifetime ago now. 

He waved as his brothers drove down the long driveway, and when he went inside he saw Cora and Nora sitting on the couch watching Criminal Minds. “Don’t be an antisocial loser, come hang out with us,” Cora said, but Brandon could hear the affection in her voice.  Sometimes he forgot that Derek and Matt were their brothers too and that they missed them, even if it was in a different way from how he missed them.  

“Fine,” Brandon said, sitting down on the loveseat and kicking his feet onto the table.  

They were all still sitting around watching Criminal Minds when there mom walked in the door a few hours later, “It’s quieter without everyone here,” she said, but she didn’t sound that happy about it. “I’m going to order pizza for dinner.”

After she ordered the pizzas, she sat down next to Brandon on the loveseat and ran her fingers through his hair like she had when he was little. “They’ll be back soon,” she said to him, so quietly that Cora and Nora couldn’t hear them over the TV. He nodded and let her keep petting him even though he was probably too old for it.


	5. Chapter 5

Matthew Hale’s dorm was empty when he got there.  He said his goodbyes to his older brother (there were  _ no tears _ no matter what anyone said) and then started unpacking.  He took the bed further from the window on Derek’s advice because of the noise of the city and then started unpacking.  He was nearly done unpacking when the door swung open and he was hit with the smell of cinnamon and dirt and something Matt couldn’t quite place with a hint of other werewolves mixed into the scent, like he spent a lot of time with them. 

“Hey man,” the guy said from behind this arm full of boxes, “I’m Stiles Stilinski.”

Matt waited until the boxes were set down and shook his hand, “Matt Hale, nice to meet you.”

“You too,” Stiles said, his eyes were bright brown and his face was spattered with moles. “Awesome you didn’t take the bed by the window.”

“Nah,” Matt said with a smile, already starting to like the guy, even if he did smell like another pack. “I’m from a pretty small town up past Redding; I’m not used to the sounds of the city.”

“Ah yeah, that’s a smart move then. I grew up in Boston so I’m used to the noises of the city,” Stiles said and then added, “Would you mind giving me a hand? I think if we do it together I only have one load left.”

Matt nodded, and they emptied the boxes and bags out of the back of an old pale blue Jeep, “This is Roscoe; he’s my baby.”

“You drove all the way from Boston?” 

“Nah, my dad took a job as the Chief of Police in Eureka couple years back, so I’ve been living in NorCal for a while,” Stiles said as he started unpacking his stuff. 

Matt wracked his brain trying to remember what pack was in Eureka , “Kinda far away to go for a job.”  
“My mom’s from Eureka, so we have family there already,” Stiles said.  He had unceremoniously dumped an entire suitcase into his dresser and put sheets on his bed, “One of us has to mention how weird it is that I clearly reek of other wolves and you’re very clearly a werewolf yourself.” 

“Uh, what?” Matt said, trying and failing to sound like he was confused.

“I’m an emissary in training with the McCall Pack, and I’m guessing you’re one of Talia Hale kids based on the eyebrows and cheekbones.”

“McCall pack, I knew there was one up there! He’s that True Alpha right?” Matt asked. He had heard about the McCall pack when he was young; some teenager had been bit by a rogue alpha and his vet boss had helped him through it. Less than a year later, he was an alpha.  It had all seemed too outlandish to be true, but Stiles seemed to know them.

“He might be, I didn’t ask,” Stiles said with a shrug, “I work mostly with Deaton and hang out with the younger pack members since Scott and his second are both almost thirty. So you’re one of the Hale wolves, right? If you’re not then Deaton will probably come down here and scold me for guessing wrong.”

“I am.”

“Cool,” Stiles said, then grinned when he saw Matt’s lacrosse stick, “You play?”

“Yeah I’m going to be on the team,” Matt said with an internal sigh of relief that they were done talking about their packs.

“Me too!” Stiles said, he flailed a little and knocked a box off his bed. It hit the floor with a thud and he said, “Shit, you’ll learn that I’m not the most coordinated person in the world. Want to grab dinner? I’m starving.”

Matt felt like he had mental whiplash with how quickly Stiles changed direction in their conversation, but nodded and they both grabbed their student IDs and headed to one of the dining halls.  

By the time they got back to their room that night, Matt was pretty sure Stiles was going to be his best friend.  He was funny as hell in the kind of biting way that most of his family was. He was smart, he could talk about lacrosse all day, and he was going to be majoring in criminal justice and forensic science, which was a lot cooler than Matt’s accounting major. 

At the end of their first month, Matt was  _ positive _ that Stiles was going to be his best friend.  He always covered for him when he was late for practice, he knew how to get werewolves drunk, and he was a great wingman. “Are you sure you don’t mind dropping me off?” Matt asked as they climbed into Stiles’ Jeep one windy September afternoon.

“It’s not even that far out of my way, and splitting gas is cheaper than paying for it all myself,” Stiles said with a shrug that Matt was pretty sure he had picked up from him. “Plus it makes no sense for someone to come get you.”

“I really appreciate it dude; I wasn't looking forward to that drive with Cora,” Matt said, shuddering at the thought.

“Cora’s the one in high school right?” Stiles asked as they drove.

“Yeah, well Nora’s in high school too, but Cora’s the senior.” 

“You’re parents really liked those ending-in-‘a’ names for your sisters,” Stiles said with a laugh, merging onto the freeway and setting off toward Beacon Hills. 

They got to Beacon Hills just after 7, and Matt grabbed his bag out of back before leaning into the driver’s side window, “You really don’t mind picking me up on your way back?”

“Nah dude, not at all,” Stiles said, bumping his fist against Matt’s and added, “I’m going to be hungover as all hell though, McCall said there was as much as I could drink if I made him some of my special stuff for the wolves.”

Matt laughed and patted his pocket where the little vial of Stiles’ non -lethal wolfbane mix was. “I’ll see you Sunday bro!”

He watched as Stiles drove away, and a few minutes later Derek walked into the kitchen behind Laura.  “I would have rather driven 9 hours from L.A. then listen to you whine about picking me up from the airport,” Derek said and Laura rolled her eyes.  She went to Chico State and was close enough to home that she came back almost every weekend. 

“The traffic was hell Derek,” Laura said, Matt could hear the teasing in her voice but he knew that Derek hated feeling like a burden to anyone, so even Laura’s teasing might be getting under his skin. She must have felt Matt’s gaze because she added, “You know I’m kidding.”

Derek huffed but he smelled less anxious after she said it. Matt hugged Laura quickly before he turned to Derek and said, “Hug me, brotha.”

“For the last time Matt, we aren’t Drake and Josh,” Derek said through a laugh and hugged him. “How was the drive?”

“Not bad,” Matt said, they were both unconsciously walking toward the treehouse as they spoke, “Stiles drives kind of like you, so it was a fast ride.”

“You still like him then?” Derek asked as they climbed into the treehouse and found Brandon with his math book open on the floor in front of him.

“He’s the best dude,” Matt said with a wide grin, “He might come stay with us for a few months this summer, apparently his dad knows the sheriff here and is trying to get him an internship at the station.”

“Awesome!” Brandon said with a wide smile. He had met Stiles via Skype on more than one occasion and already loved him. He was a magnetic guy; who wouldn’t like him?

The next day brought Peter’s wedding and Matt was glad that he wasn’t stuck in the wedding party like Derek. He and Brandon dicked around between the ceremony and the reception. They tossed a football around the back yard while the wedding party took pictures in front, and they managed to avoid having to help too much because they hid in the treehouse when they heard people approach. 

By the time Derek was done with his duties and dinner had been served, Matt was itching to dip into the vial that Stiles had given him.  “Derek,” He whispered as low as possible into brother’s ear, hoping to not be overheard by any of their many werewolf relatives. “Grab Brandon and meet me at the treehouse in five.”

Derek nodded slightly in acknowledgement and Matt got up and made his way around the tent and toward the treehouse.  He had lost his suit jacket earlier in the night, his buttondown shirt was undone at the top and his tie hung loosely around his neck; if he didn’t think someone would see him, he would have ditched his pants as he made his way to the tree. 

Brandon and Derek weren’t there yet, so Matt made himself comfortable on the futon after he grabbed three cans of coke out of the cooler they kept stocked up there and unbuttoned his dress pants.  He heard Derek and Brandon approaching and pulled the small vial out of his pocket.  

“Do you guys want to get drunk?” He asked before they were even seated.

“You know that werewolves can’t get drunk,” Brandon said with a confused look on his face.  Whenever he made that face, Matt had to stop himself from laughing. Brandon looked like a puppy, and as a werewolf he wasn't suppose to think dog jokes were funny.

“I know people who can make it happen,” Matt said with a smirk, loving the look of awe on Brandon’s face and the way Derek’s brow furrowed. “Do you know what an emissary is?”

“A magically inclined person who helps a pack; they used to all be Druids but in the last hundred years or so the Druids have become scarce, so anyone with a spark and a willingness to commit to a pack can be one,” Derek rattled off.  Their parents had given them all lessons about werewolf pack etiquette and other supernatural beings when they were kids. Derek had always been the one most interested in the inner workings of wolf packs and in the supernatural community, so he had studied more than just the basics. 

“Yeah, well one of my buddies is a pretty powerful spark. He’s training under a Druid in Eureka,” Matt said, smiling wider as a look of realization spread over Derek’s face. Eureka had always been one of the biggest supernatural hotspots in North America; they based Sunnydale off of it when they were creating Buffy the Vampire Slayer. “And he’s come up with a concoction that mimics the effects of alcohol that will work on werewolves.”

“Is it safe?” Brandon asked, still looking excited. 

“Yeah dude, it’s how I had a normal college partying experience,” Matt said as he popped the top of the vial. He put three drops into his can of Coke, swirled it around, and took a sip. “Want to try?”

By the time the vial was empty, all three brothers were pleasantly buzzed and lay sprawled across the treehouse floor.  “It’s not the same with you guys gone,” Brandon said, his voice thick with either emotions or the buzz, or maybe both.  

“One day,” Derek said, sitting up so he was leaning back on his forearms, “We’ll all be back together and it’ll be great.”

“And you’ll go to college soon too,” Matt reminded him. He swung his arm until he made contact with Brandon’s and they all laughed.  

When Stiles picked Matt up the next day he looked a little worse for wear, but then again, so did Matt. “You look like shit,” Stiles said with a shit-eating grin.

“Have you seen yourself?” Matt said with a laugh, gesturing at Stiles’ hair and shirt.

“I have, and I think I look fantastic all things considered,” Stiles said. He craned his neck looking toward the house. “Where’s the family?”

“Cora took Derek to the airport, Brandon is napping in the treehouse, Laura left pretty early this morning, and Nora is probably spying on us out one of the windows,” Matt said as Stiles started pulling down the long drive. 

“Damn, I was hoping to catch a glimpse of those brothers of yours!” Stiles said.

“What, are my sisters not good enough for you?” Matt said around a laugh.

“I’ve heard enough horror stories starring your sisters; I think I”ll keep my Hale family fantasies of the male variety,” Stiles joked as he turned on the radio. Twenty One Pilots poured out of the speakers, and they drove the three hours back to school. They were both relatively quiet, occasionally talking, but mostly both nursing hangovers and daydreaming about tater tots from the dining hall for dinner. 


	6. Chapter 6

Christmas with the Hale family was always an experience. To an outsider, it probably appeared busy and crowded, maybe even borderline chaotic, and it was, but it was also everyone’s favorite time of year.  The entire extended family descended upon the old Hale house, the tree was always decked out to the nines, and Grandma Ruth (the only living grandparent left) baked enough cookies to feed a small army, which worked out well because 25 werewolves could eat as much as a mid sized army.  

The Hale brothers loved spending time with their extended family. Their Aunt Megan and Uncle John had the cutest little kids, including an 18 month old who loved Derek more than he loved anyone else in the family, and they got to see their cousins who had all scattered across the country for college. They also got to eat their dad’s world famous pot roast, but their favorite part about the holiday season was being back together. 

Christmas Eve, after everyone had retreated to their own homes and bedrooms, they found themselves wrapped in blankets and huddled together in the treehouse.  It felt cold to them, but it really didn’t ever really drop below 35 degrees in Beacon Hills, so it wasn’t actually all that cold. It was, however, raining. “This weather makes me miss L.A.,” Derek said. He was half joking; he never really missed L.A., just his teammates, and his brothers knew that, but he didn’t hate the weather there.

“I don’t think I’d like nice weather all year round, where’s the fun in that?” Brandon asked as he took a sip of hot chocolate from a thermos in his hands. 

“I don’t know,” Matt said, tugging his blanket tighter around his shoulders as wind blew at the blankets they had hung over the windows. “A little sunshine sounds kind of nice right about now.”

“Drama queen,” Brandon said with a small laugh. He had really started to grow into himself over the last year.  After he had gotten past the loneliness of not having Derek and Matt around, he had really started to figure out who he was without his brothers.  That wasn’t to say he didn’t love them and miss the shit out of him, but he was figuring out what it meant to be just Brandon, not DerekMattandBrandon. 

“You’ve been a sarcastic little shit this break,” Matt said with a grin at his brother. “Derek, our little Brandon is growing up.”

Derek leaned over and pinched Brandon’s cheek hard, but Brandon just laughed. “With both of you gone, someone had to take up the role of the Hale family asshole. Since Cora’s been so busy making heart eyes at Lydia Martin, she didn’t even notice the job was open, so it fell to me.”

“Wait, is Cora actually dating Lydia now?” Matt asked, trying to sound like he didn’t care, but they all knew he did.  He might not have a crush on Lydia anymore, but they all knew that she was the only girl he would have settled down for in high school. 

“I don’t think dating is the word I’d use,” Brandon said and Derek snorted. “But they’re doing something that I don’t particularly enjoy smelling on either of them after.”

“Dude,” Matt said, his face contorted in disgust, “I don’t want to know what they  _ smell _ like.”

“Well I’m sure Brandon didn’t want to smell them either, so it seems fair that we let him talk about it if he wants to,” Derek said, shaking his head a little bit as he spoke, “Even if none of us ever want to think about any of our sisters in that kind of position.”

“I walked in on them making out in an empty classroom the other day,” Brandon admitted with a groan.  Derek and Matt both shuddered and Derek reached over to squeeze his shoulder in support. “I wanted to bleach my eyeballs after.”

“I want to bleach my brain just thinking about it,” Matt groaned. “Now I won’t even be able to fantasize about Lydia Martin without Cora sneaking in, and that’s just wrong.”

“Stop talking,” Derek said, shoving Matt hard enough that he fell over. They all laughed. “I’m just glad that the extended family stuff is over.  There’s only so many times Peter had brag about himself before I want to sprout claws and fight him.”

“You mean you aren’t impressed with his new car and his shiny watch and how impressed his accounting firm is with his work?” Brandon asked before laughing again and taking the last sip of his hot chocolate.

They didn’t go to bed until almost 2:00 in the morning; they only slept after all the cookies they had brought out to the treehouse were gone and Matt had complained about not having feeling in his toes for the seventh time. 

Brandon fell asleep that night warm in his bed and with a happiness in his heart that only came with having spent the night dicking around with his brothers.  He was glad that he had started to come into his own while they were away, but there was nothing like having Derek tease him about his haircut or having Matt make a dirty joke under his breath while Uncle Peter fondled his car keys (“I bet he spends more time prepping his car then he does prepping Corrine before they have sex”).

The rest of the holidays passed too quickly for any of their liking, but they did get to spend most of it just hanging out.  Derek dragged both Brandon and Matt to the gym with him five times; both brothers spent most of their time at the gym making fun of Derek behind his back, but Matt benefitted in the end since lacrosse season and baseball season both started right after winter break.

“Derek, if you do any more squats you’re going to have to go up a pants size to accommodate your huge ass,” Matt teased as Derek returned to a standing position, setting the bar he had been using with his squats back on the rack. 

“Some people like a guy with a big ass,” Derek bit back, a smirk on his face.  Matt fake gagged and Derek added, “Plus, everyone knows that baseball players have the best asses. I can’t go letting anyone down by having an  _ average _ butt.”

“It should be weirder that you guys are talking about Derek’s ass,” Brandon said as he walked over to his brothers. “Instead, it just feels like a normal Thursday with you two.”


	7. Chapter 7

The college baseball season felt like both a blessing and a curse for Derek.  It was a blessing because he really did love playing baseball; it was something that made him feel alive, even if he did have to tone down his speed and strength.  It was a curse because the college baseball season almost always went past the school year, especially when the team made it to the playoffs.  The only reason that he wasn’t chomping at the bit to be home was the fact that Matt’s lacrosse team had just made it to the NCAA tournament for the first time in 20 years and he wasn’t home yet either. 

At least that’s how he felt until Berkeley was eliminated in the first round of the playoffs and Matt went home.  He missed his family, and not even baseball could distract him from the thought of everyone together without him.  He felt painfully homesick, but he wouldn’t admit it out loud because he knew that his friends and teammates would give him shit about it, even if they were all feeling the same way. 

“Don’t be such a baby,” Laura said to him on the phone before the semi-finals.  She had called to wish him luck but it turned into her teasing him, because that’s what sisters do. 

“I’m not being a baby! You’re the one who goes home almost every weekend during the school year,” Derek shot back.

“Future alpha duties,” Laura said, even though they both knew she was just as homesick as he was. She just had an excuse to go home more often because she lived closer and everyone assumed she would be the alpha whenever Talia retired because she had been talking about it since they were old enough to know what an alpha was. 

“Whatever you say. I have to go,” Derek said, looking at the alarm clock next to his hotel bed.

“Good luck little brother,” Laura sang into his ear.

“You’re six minutes older than me Laura, SIX.”

“Still counts,” she said, and then hung up.

They ended up losing in the 11th inning. Derek hit a 3 run homer to send them to extra innings and he managed to lose himself in the game, but when they lost, he wasn’t as sad as he  should have been.  

“Any big plans this summer, Hale?” Boyd asked him as they packed up their shared dorm the next day.

“Nah, just going to work at the rec center again and hang out with my brothers,” Derek said with a small smile, already thinking about getting home that night and hanging out with his family.  He wasn’t looking forward to the 9-hour drive, but he was looking forward to heading straight to the treehouse and spending the night catching up with his brothers.  He had a full five days before he started at the rec center and he planned on making the most of them.  

It wasn’t that his job was hard or that he worked all that much, but he did have to wake up pretty early to get to the first swimming lessons of the day.  After that, he umped for the peewee baseball, so usually he was done working for the rec center by 1 or 2 o’clock.  A few days a week, he also had private baseball lessons that he charged rich parents an arm and a leg for. If they were willing to shell out 75 bucks for an hour of one-on-one coaching time with Derek, he was sure as hell going to charge them for it. 

“What about you, any plans?” Derek asked as he threw the last of his stuff into his duffle bag on his bed and sat down to pull on his shoes.

“Coaching,” Boyd said with the small smile that Derek had come to know as his happy look.  Derek was surprised by how much he had missed Boyd the year before; he had become like a brother to him on and off the field. They had a  _ very _ manly hug before parting ways; Derek heading up north and Boyd to the airport before heading further south.

He managed to get out of L.A. in record time; in fact, everything about the drive went perfectly.  There was barely any traffic through the Bay Area, the spot that almost always had construction outside Redding was clear, and he didn’t even hit the tiny rush hour in Beacon County.  If Derek hadn’t known any better, he’d have thought someone had charmed his drive to go smoothly. 

Derek pulled his truck onto the gravel next to the house.  Laura’s car wasn’t there, but both of his parents’ cars were and so was Cora’s new-ish Toyota. There was also a blue Jeep he didn’t recognize that he assumed belonged to one of Cora or Nora’s friends.  He turned his truck off, left his stuff in the bed of it, and made his way to the treehouse where he could hear two heartbeats. From the sound of it Brandon had just been working out, since his heartbeat was faster than usual.

He ran to the tree and heaved himself up and into the treehouse through one of the windows.  He landed gracefully inside, and when he looked up he saw that Matt was in the treehouse, but it wasn’t Brandon with him.  Instead there was a guy with fair skin that was smattered with moles and brown eyes the color of whiskey, whose hair was artfully disheveled and was eating a grape popsicle in a way that made Derek want to put something else between his lips. 

“You’re not Brandon,” was all he managed to say.  It came out in a voice slightly lower than usual and he knew he smelled lightly of arousal, but luckily this guy wasn’t a werewolf by the scent of him.  But that smell, like cinnamon and grass, like rain and lighting, it was intoxicating.  He had to stop himself from stepping closer and inhaling again, closer to the stranger in his treehouse.

“That’s true,” the guy said. His eyebrow was quirked upward, but other than that, Derek had no read on him. His heart rate had spiked when Derek tumbled into the treehouse but that was to be expected. His scent, however, hadn’t changed at all. 

“Derek, this is my roommate Stiles. Stiles, this is my older brother Derek,” Matt said, looking between them with mild interest. It was a look that Derek had learned to hate on Matt’s face, because it usually meant that Derek was going to end up dragged into one of Matt’s half-concocted plans or that he  _ was _ one of Matt’s plans. 

“I thought your roommate lived in Eureka,” Derek said, his voice still sounding a little distant. To the untrained ear it sounded slightly annoyed, but anyone who knew Derek knew that it was more that he was trying to hide how he was really feeling. Right now, he was feeling like he wanted to play connect the dots with Stiles’ moles with his tongue. 

“I do,” Stiles said; he had gone from looking slightly amused to a little irritated, but his heart rate hadn’t changed and neither had his scent so Derek really couldn’t tell if he actually was.  

“But he’s staying with us this summer! He’s interning at the Sheriff’s Department and doing some stuff for Mom’s friend Marin while he’s here,” Matt said, shooting Derek a ‘don’t be an asshole’ look.  It was a look that all three of the Hale brothers had perfected over the years because they were all kind of assholes sometimes, and if one of them went too far, the others would bring them back or at least call them out on it.  Derek wasn’t past that line yet, but he was getting close to it since he had never met Stiles before and was already coming off kind of dickish.

Stiles looked at Derek, waiting for him to respond, but Derek didn’t trust his own voice as Stiles licked the melting popsicle off his hand so he just nodded and was saved by the appearance of Brandon.  His hair was windswept and his face flushed, like he had just been running. “Derek!”

Derek pulled his brother into a hug, savoring the familiar feeling of home that came with being reunited with both Matt and Brandon, even if there was a stranger there with them. “I heard your truck at the high school,” Brandon said with a grin, “So I ran home.”

His heart stopped in his chest; the high school was almost 10 miles away and Derek had just gotten back. He hoped that Stiles didn’t realize how quickly Brandon had run; in fact, he hoped that Stiles wouldn’t notice a lot of strange things that happened around the Hales. “Werewolves,” Stiles said with a laugh.

“You know about werewolves?” Derek asked, his eyes narrowed as he looked from Stiles to Matt and back again.

“I wouldn’t have invited him to stay if he didn’t know about us,” Matt said with a shrug. “He called me out on it the first day we met; I thought I told you that he works pretty closely with the McCall Pack.”

“You said you had a friend who did, but you never said who,” Derek said, still feeling a little thrown off.

“Well, it’s me,” Stiles said with a grin, tossing his popsicle stick into the small trashcan and wagging his fingers in a sort of mock jazz hands.

“I'm going to unload my truck,”  Derek said glancing over at Brandon as he spoke. “Want to help me, out little brother?” 

“Sure, I should shower anyway,” Brandon said sniffing at his armpit and making a face. “I smell like the locker room.” 

The two brothers made their way down from the tree house over to Derek's truck and grabbed all of Derek's bags in one go.  “Where do you think Stiles will be sleeping?” Derek asked, forgetting that Matt and Stiles had been in Beacon Hills for almost a week now.

“Oh, he’s in Peter’s old room,” Brandon said with a grin as he gave his brother a knowing look. “Just across the hall from you.”

“Great,” Derek breathed out, dumping his bags on this bed and looking at the half open door across the hall. He could see a flannel shirt laying on the bed and a lacrosse stick leaning against the desk.  “Just great.”

“Stiles is really funny,” Brandon said, misinterpreting Derek’s voice, “and he makes really good pancakes. Give him a chance dude.”

Derek grunted as he tore his eyes away from the doorway. “I’m sure he’s a great guy, I just wasn’t expecting to have a visitor all summer.”

“He’s really great; I didn’t think I’d want someone here all summer either but he really fits in with the family. Plus, he’s not around that much; he’s busy with his internship and Ms. Morrel keeps him busy too,” Brandon said as he flopped into Derek’s desk chair. “He also said he’d teach me about runes this summer.”

“Runes?” Derek asked. He dumped his dirty laundry bag into his hamper as he spoke, wrinkling his nose at the smell. He would have to do laundry tonight; he wouldn’t be able to sleep with the smell of week old baseball socks in his room.

Brandon stood up. He was easily three inches taller than Derek now, but he was leaner, more lithe where Derek was broad, and when he spoke he almost didn’t sound like Derek’s little brother. He sounded more like a man than he ever had, even though his words were the same as they would have been years before. “Stiles is training to be an emissary, so he knows a lot about runes and their magical properties, and about herbs and all that stuff. He knows a lot about werewolves and other supernatural beings, too; he was telling me about them at dinner the other night.”

“Of course he does,” Derek muttered.  Of course Stiles was into magic and supernatural beings, of course he was because that made him even more desirable to Derek and he could already tell that Stiles wasn’t interested in him. He didn’t smell like arousal or even have an accelerated heart rate around Derek.  This was going to be a long summer.


	8. Chapter 8

“Matt I’m serious, your brother wants to eat me,” Stiles said as he flopped down onto Matt’s bed, his face buried in a pillow and his voice whiny. 

They had just left their third dinner with Derek back and Derek had spent it oscillating between avoiding looking at Stiles and scowling at him. It had become Derek’s usual reaction when Stiles was around. Matt had to bite back a laugh because he knew full well that Derek was avoiding Stiles because they had hot dogs for dinner and he could smell the arousal on Derek faintly throughout the meal. He had excused himself after dinner to his bedroom and Matt was willing to bet his lacrosse stick that his brother was having ‘alone time’ while imagining his best friend and something shaped like a hot dog. He pushed  _ that  _ image out of his head and ran a hand through his hair before looking at Stiles, who was still face down on his bed.

“He doesn’t want to eat you, and Big Bad Wolf-themed jokes still aren't funny dude,” Matt said. He flicked Stiles’ ankle as punishment for his bad joke and Stiles kicked at him, missing him by an inch.  

“But I think he really might want to eat me,” Stiles mumbled into the pillow and Matt had to stifle another laugh, because Derek might want to eat Stiles, but in a less violent and more sexual way. Not something Matt really wanted to think about, but it was kind of hilarious from where he was sitting.  “Why do the hot ones always hate me?”

“You think my brother’s hot?” Matt asked.  He knew that Stiles thought Derek looked good in the pictures he had seen, but it was different seeing him in person and still thinking it, especially after Derek had been his usual awkward self around him. 

“Shut up,” Stiles said. He rolled over and sat up to look at Matt as he spoke. “We will never speak of it.”

“I mean, I might,” Matt said and Stiles threw a pillow at him that Matt easily dodged. “Get the fuck out, I need to sleep before going to deal with people at the damn garden center all morning.”

Stiles flipped him off before getting off the bed. “Still on to toss a ball around after work tomorrow?”

“Yeah, I’m going to invite a bunch of my high school teammates, too, so we might even get a pickup game going,” Matt said as he flopped down on the spot that Stiles had just vacated. 

Stiles gave him a thumbs up and walked out of the room, shutting the door behind him.  Matt laughed to himself when he thought about all the fun he was going to have torturing Stiles and Derek that summer.  Maybe he would even get a betting pool going with the family; they hadn’t had a good one since Peter got married.  He drifted off to sleep still plotting ways to make Derek and Stiles have forced, uncomfortable interactions where both of them thought the other hated them.

Matt woke bright and early the next day for his shitty early shift at Home Depot. He grabbed his bright orange apron off his desk chair after he pulled on a white tee shirt and a pair of khaki cargo shorts, and then he made his way out of the room.  He stopped with the door a few inches open and grinned to himself.  He could hear Stiles and Derek having an awkward interaction in the hallway outside of the bathroom that Derek and Peter had always shared growing up, that Stiles and Derek would be sharing for the summer.  

“No, really, it’s your house, go ahead, I can wait,” Stiles said.  Matt could almost hear Derek’s ears turning pink as Stiles added, “I’m super quick in the shower anyway, I don’t need much time.”

“I uh,” Derek started and then stopped, Matt could picture his brother’s eyebrows playing across his forehead and he had to bite his hand to stop from laughing, “I just need to brush my teeth, I don’t shower before swim lessons and umping.”

“Oh, well yeah go right ahead,” Stiles said and Matt just  _ knew _ that Stiles was doing an awkward half bow. “I’ll just wait here.”

Matt pulled his door the rest of the way opened and saw, much to his delight, that Derek’s ears were red and Stiles was still half bowed, “Dude, you can just use mine and Brandon’s bathroom if you want to shower.” Stiles and Derek both looked at him as he spoke and he was pleased to find that Derek looked surprised that he was there, which meant he had been very focused on Stiles. “I know you like an extra long shower in the morning man, just go in there and be sure to be thorough in cleaning up after.”

Now both Stiles and Derek were bright red, Derek stepped into the bathroom and shut the door, Stiles shot Matt a dirty look and walked past him into the bathroom.  Matt didn’t even care that he didn’t get to brush his teeth, it was worth it to see both of them so flustered. He also knew that Derek was in the bathroom picturing what Stiles was doing in the other bathroom, and that Stiles was thinking about Derek while he was doing what Derek thought he was doing.  He laughed to himself as he made his way downstairs. This was going to be the best summer ever.


	9. Chapter 9

This was going to be the single worst summer of Derek Hale’s life, he was sure of it.  He had tried to ignore Matt’s comment about Stiles’ morning shower routine, but he couldn’t, not with the way Stiles’ had turned red and practically ran to the bathroom to avoid looking at Derek.  He was pretty sure that Stiles hated him, and he had good reason to at this point. He had been kind of a dick in the five days that he had been home, but he wasn’t trying to be, he just got tongue-tied around Stiles and always ended up with his foot in his mouth or glaring at the  _ many _ phallic objects that Stiles ended up with in his mouth. 

After a very quick jack-off session in the bathroom, Derek made his way to the kitchen where he found his mom reading the paper and sipping coffee. “Morning sweetie,” she said without looking up at him. “Excited to get back to work this summer?”

“I’d be more excited if I were doing something that would help me get a job after college,” Derek admitted.  He wouldn’t be able to get an internship until the following summer, but he really wished he could.  

“I can’t help you there,” Talia said, “but I can set you up with some inter-pack dynamic and supernatural-being lessons if you’re interested in that.”

Derek’s eyes lit up at that and she smiled.  He had always been the sibling who was interested in how werewolf packs interacted. Whether it was on the etiquette that went into multipack agreements or on how other supernatural creatures fit into the equation, whenever their parents had talked about it, he had been the one to pay the closest attention.  It had always bothered him that Laura didn’t care about it; she was the likely future alpha, so she should know about this kind of stuff, but Laura’s interests had always laid more in bossing people around and in becoming a lawyer like their mom. 

He could hear Stiles as he moved around in Peter’s old room and he rushed to finish his breakfast so he wouldn’t have to see him again.  Talia gave him a knowing smile as he ran out of the house just as Stiles started down the stairs, he was going to have to start working on subtlety.  

Swim lessons were always interesting, especially the first one of a session, and by interesting, Derek meant painful.  He was lucky in that he taught the more advanced class because he didn’t want to have to worry about an overconfident five-year-old trying to swim too far out and end up having to rescue them.  

“Okay guys,” Derek said as he stood at the edge of the deep end of the pool, “I’m Mr. Derek and I’ll be your swim instructor this summer.”

He heard a couple of the girls in his class giggle as they looked at him, and he resisted the urge to roll his eyes at them.  He was used to it; they were all between 10 and 12, so a lot of the kids stared at him. Even more of the parents did, but it was always frustrating when they stopped paying attention to what he was saying. “Let’s start with 4 laps to the ropes and back,” Derek said and then blew his whistle. His partner, Allison Argent, was late.  Usually, she would be the one giving orders to the kids and Derek would stand back and look menacing.

“Sorry I’m late,” Allison said, as she ran over to where Derek was standing. Her hair was shorter and lighter this summer, but other than that she hadn’t changed much, “My bitch aunt is in town and I got stuck dropping her off at the autoshop.”

Derek knew Allison’s aunt in passing; Kate Argent was someone to be avoided and all the Hale kids knew it. Growing up they had been warned about the Argents; they were one of the oldest hunting families, but over the last 10 years their families had come to a truce. The Hales protect Beacon Hills from danger just as much, if not more, than the Argents, and when Gerard Argent had died, Chris had come to Talia wanting to make amends and start fresh. Derek and Allison had been friends ever since.

“I just have them swimming warm up laps,” Derek said with a shrug. “You didn’t miss much, but we do have some giggly girls this year.”

“Well, you managed to put on some more muscle,” Allison said, giving Derek’s arm a squeeze and laughing when Derek pretended to growl at her. “Seriously Hale, you look good. If I wasn’t a lesbian and dating your cousin, I’d be into you.”

“How’d your dad take it when you told him you’re dating Malia?” Derek asked, eyes on the water to make sure none of the kids drowned.  Allison and Malia had been a thing since high school, but she had only just told her dad about it at Christmas because things had gotten serious between them.

“As well as expected,” She said, eying the water, “He said if it had to be a werewolf he’s glad it’s one of your pack, and at least it wasn’t a vampire.”

Derek snorted. Argent and his mom had worked together on a little vampire problem a few years back and neither family was particularly fond of the blood suckers afterwards.  “That’s true, I might even disown you if you dated a vampire.”

“Yeah but then you’d have no friends except your family, and that would just be sad.”

“Fuck off,” Derek said and then turned back to the water. “This is Miss Allison and she’ll be your other teacher this summer.  Now, who wants her to show you how to do the butterfly?”

Allison shot him a dirty look before diving into the pool and showing the kids how to properly move their arms for the butterfly.  Derek watched the group, a small smile on his face because the rule was one instructor had to be out of the water at all times to have a better view of the pool in case of an incident.  He knew that he’d probably be the one stuck in the water the next day, but it was better than day one. By day two, the kids tended to be less excited. 

Lessons ended and Allison walked with Derek to his truck. “So, I hear you have a house guest for the summer.”

“Matt’s roommate has an internship with the Beacon Hills Sheriff’s Department,” Derek said. He tried to sound nonchalant, but Allison knew him too well to fall for that.

“A little birdy told me he’s your type,” she said with a smirk.

“Tell your birdy to fuck off,” Derek grumbled as he climbed into the cab of the truck and added, “He’s going to kill me by the end of the summer, I can already feel it.”

“That hot, huh?”

“He’s something,” Derek said.

“Dad says he’s tight with the McCall pack; he wants to meet him to see if they can work out some sort of treaty in that area too,” Allison said, “but he wants to wait until Kate is gone before he does anything.”

“Smart. If he doesn’t, she might try to burn another house full of innocent werewolves down,” Derek said darkly.  He knew it wasn’t Allison’s fault that her aunt had tried to kill his family, but he really wished she would have gone to jail for it. Instead, she got away with it because she paid off the investigator.

“If she does, I’ll put an arrow through her,” Allison said and Derek knew she was being serious. Allison had a new code for her family, one that was less about hurting monsters and more about protecting the innocent. “Are you doing anything tonight?”

“Nah, just hanging out around the house; you should come over.”

Allison nodded and Derek shut the door of his truck so he could head over to the baseball fields to ump two baseball games before he would head home for the day.  Umping the games was easy, it was mostly dealing with the parents that he didn’t like, especially the ones who thought their kids were better than everyone else's.

He was heading to his truck after the second game when a police cruiser pulled into the parking lot.  He could see the messy hair of Stiles Stilinski in the passenger seat and he took a deep breath in to steady himself for whatever was coming. “Hey Derek!” Deputy Parrish said through the open window, he had been a few years ahead of Derek at Beacon Hills High School, but they had both played on the baseball team Derek’s freshman year.

“Hey Deputy,” Derek said, walking carefully over the the car, “I thought criminals went in the back?”  
Stiles eyes went wide for a moment before he grinned at him and it made Derek’s stomach flip. “You made a joke.”

“It’s been known to happen,” Derek shot back, a smirk tugging at his mouth.  If he hadn’t known any better he would have through Stiles asked Jordan to pull over so he could tease him.

“Just wanted to make sure you weren’t causing too much  trouble,” Stiles said with a grin and Jordan shook his head.

“This is the Hale you don’t have to worry about,” Jordan said and added, “Derek here was an Eagle Scout.”

Derek rolled his eyes and said, “I’ll see both of you around.”

“Bye, Derek,” Stiles sing-songed out of the window as Derek walked toward his truck.  He waved his hand over his shoulder, shaking his head as he did.  Why did they stop? Derek would probably never understand Stiles.

He stopped at the farmers’ market at the small park on Main Street before he headed home. He hoped that they would have puppies that he could play with; they always seemed to have puppies.  He was wandering around the market after he pet the puppies that the Johnsons’ golden retriever had had last month when he heard Stiles voice again.

Jordan was standing near a stand with homemade candles talking to the two women at the booth, and looking serious, Stiles stood a few feet behind him talking quietly to a little girl. “Don’t worry, Deputy Parrish is a great police officer; he’ll make sure you get back to your mom and dad.”

Derek felt his heart swell a little at the sweetness in Stiles’ tone.  He made to walk closer to them to see if he could help, when a man in his early thirties pushed passed him and hugged the girl.  Derek saw the small smile on Stiles face as he stepped back and let the reunion unfold.  Before Stiles could spot him, Derek jogged back to the parking lot and hopped into his truck. He didn’t need another reason for liking Stiles, but he had just gotten one. 

Brandon was home when Derek got there, sitting on the front porch eating an apple. “No coaching sessions today?”

“Not until next week,” Derek said, sitting down on the steps next to Brandon and running a hand over his face. “I forgot how exhausting it is.  It’s a different kind of tired then actually playing sports; standing in the sun all day is just draining.”

“That’s why I avoid it,” Brandon said with a grin. “Matt should be home soon if you want to hang out.”

Derek nodded; he hadn’t had any time with just his brothers since he had come home nearly four days ago and it felt wrong.  He stood up suddenly and grinned. “Race ya!”

He took off toward the trees and he could hear Brandon on his heels, so he pushed faster, reaching the treehouse a few paces ahead of his brother and climbing in through the makeshift ladder on the trunk.  Brandon appeared behind him a second later and Derek laughed, a real laugh that usually came because of moments like this.  “I think you’re a cheater.”

“I think you’re a sore loser,” Derek said with a grin.  He took a seat on a beanbag chair near one of the windows so he could catch a breeze and let his eyes slip shut.  “Think Matt will find us up here?’

Brandon rolled his eyes. “If anyone is ever looking for any of us, this is the first place that they check.”

Derek laughed again and then quieted when he heard Matt come toward the treehouse a moment later. “Sometimes I wish we weren’t werewolves so we could actually surprise people,” Derek said, and then when Brandon gave him a flat look, “Okay, so maybe I wish that I was still a werewolf and you guys weren’t so I could scare you.”

“Asshole,” Matt said as he pulled himself into the treehouse and looked at his brothers. “Fancy seeing you guys here.”

They ended up playing 3 games of Sorry on the board they had stolen from their game closet years before. It was missing half the red and yellow pieces, and the board itself was broken in half from years of use, but they loved it.  Inevitably, their fourth game ended with Matt flipping the board because Derek and Brandon had conspired to make sure he lost. It was a typical end to any game between the Hale brothers. 

Around 5:30, Derek lifted his head at the sound of a car rumbling up the driveway. He knew it was Stiles’ Jeep by the way if stuck slightly when he tried to shift down to 1st gear.  “Hear anything interesting Derek?” Matt asked, his eyes too knowing for Derek’s liking. 

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Derek said, trying and failing at sounding indifferent. When both Matt and Brandon smirked at him, Derek flipped them both off and added, “I’m going to go anywhere that you guys aren’t.”

“Oh come on Derek,” Brandon said with a laugh, “don’t be like that.”

“Don’t be like what?” A new voice said from the opening in the front of the treehouse.  Stiles stood there with his hair looking like it needed Derek’s fingers in it, his khaki pants hugging his hips perfectly, and a small smile on his lips.  

“Nothing,” Derek grumbled, glaring at his brothers. 

“Okay then,” Stiles said with a little laugh, his eyes on Derek as he spoke, but Derek didn’t see. “Your mom says dinner is ready.”


	10. Chapter 10

Dinner with the Hale family was always an interesting affair; from fighting about who got the best pieces of meat to fighting about who had to do dishes, there was always  _ something _ going on that made it something to watch for an outsider.  Matt had never really thought about it until Stiles said something about it after his first Hale family meal, but after that he started to notice.  

It wasn’t like they acted like animals, but the family did tend to let their more wolfish characteristics kick in at the table, especially after having spent the day holding back.  So  _ maybe _ Matt ate four burgers, and  _ maybe _ Laura popped a claw to cut her steak, and okay  _ maybe _ it wasn’t normal that Brandon dove across the table and tackled Cora when she took the last pork chop the next night, but that was just family dinner. 

Matt looked around the table and couldn’t help but smile as he did. Brandon was talking animatedly to their dad about a new carving technique he read about, Cora and Nora were talking quietly (probably plotting), Laura was pelting questions at Stiles about Deputy Parrish because she was anything but subtle, and Derek? Derek was watching Stiles out of the corner of his eye.  He was trying to be subtle but Matt knew Derek too well for that. 

He was about to say something to Derek when he felt a swift kick under the table, “Ow,” he said and his mom smiled at him. 

Matt watched as Derek followed Stiles’ hand movement, then looked back at his food quickly when Stiles looked around the table.  He watched as Stiles watched Derek for a moment, his eyes a little wide and cheeks slightly flushed.  Matt had never seen Stiles crush on someone like this before; usually his crushes were a mad rush of feelings for a day or two and then faded away, but his crush on Derek seemed to grow with each interaction with him.  When Stiles went back to his conversation with Laura, Derek’s eyes found him again and Matt was again tempted to ask Derek what he was looking at.

“So Derek,” Talia said with something in her voice that made Matt a little afraid for his brother, it was her scheming voice, and he had been on the receiving end of his mom’s schemes and plans enough times to know that Derek was sunk already. “Do you still want to learn more about pack dynamics and supernatural beings?”

“Yeah,” Derek said quickly through a mouth full of chili.  Talia shot him a look and he swallowed hard enough that it must have hurt and then said, “Yes.”

“Stiles is going to Marin’s tonight for a lesson, maybe he’d let you tag along,” Talia said and Matt had to bite back a smile. If their mom was trying to set them up, then Derek must be really into Stiles and Stiles must have said something to Marin about Derek that she relayed to Talia.  This was going to be the best summer watching everyone in the family try to get them together; Matt even had a few ideas about how to do it himself, but not before he made them both suffer a bit.  It was his duty as both brother and best friend to make sure they had at least two more awkward moments before any progress was made. 

“That’d be cool! Sometimes I’m scared that she’s going to try to eat me or turn me into a toad, and with you there, she’d at least have a better option for a snack,” Stiles said, then he looked at Talia and added, “No offence, Mrs. Hale.”

“None taken; Marin is certainly an acquired taste. ” Talia said with a smile. “So that settles it, you can start going with Stiles when you’re available.”

“Anyone else can come too,” Stiles said and Matt knew it was because he was probably scared that Derek would glare at him until he had a hole in his head, but Matt also knew his mom’s game and she was good at it. Everyone around the table shook their heads and Derek half-glared at them, but Stiles didn’t see. “Well, I was going to head over there in, like, 10 minutes.”

“Sounds good,” Derek said, trying to keep his voice even.  Stiles didn’t seem to notice the tension in Derek, but he also didn’t have werewolf senses. 

When Derek and Stiles left ten minutes later, pulling down the driveway in Stiles’ Jeep, Matt turned to his family, “I have a wager for all of you.”


	11. Chapter 11

Derek was going to die in Stiles Jeep; he was going to die or he was going to claw his own nose off his face to stop smelling the rich smell that was Stiles.  The scent of Stiles was all around him and it was driving him insane. “You okay dude?” Stiles asked and Derek realized that he must be holding himself completely still with the effort to not rub his face into Stiles’ neck.

“Yeah,” Derek said, his voice rougher than he intended, “Can I crack a window?”

“Have at it,” Stiles said with a laugh, gesturing at the crank windows. “Roscoe’s old, but he hasn’t failed me yet; well, except that one time he broke down outside Deer Park, Montana in a snowstorm, but we’ve made up since then.”

With the window down, Derek felt like he could breathe without wanting to scent Stiles into next week.  “What were you doing in Montana?”

“I took the long way across the country when we moved from Boston to Eureka,” Stiles said with a small smile. “It was pretty epic, and I hit a lot of supernatural hot spots, too.”

“By yourself?” Derek asked before he could stop himself.  He didn’t want to appear too curious, but he was and maybe actually talking without anyone else around would be good. 

“Nah, my buddy Danny did it with me. We were just two sixteen year old kids in a beat up Jeep on the open road; it was like a movie,” Stiles said and then added, “kind of like a horror movie at some points too though. We ran into a nest of vampires in the Badlands and almost didn’t make it out.”

“You expect me to believe that two sixteen year old kids made it out of a nest of vampires unscathed?” Derek said sounding disbelieving even to his own ears. 

Stiles laughed, “Well, I am a pretty powerful spark, and Danny’s descended from the guy that they based Aquaman’s powers on.”

“Are you serious?”

“Usually no, but yes about that,” Stiles said with a grin, “He doesn’t really like to talk about it much, but he can manipulate water and aquatic creatures tend to do his bidding.”

“That’s awesome, I always loved Aquaman.”

“Huh, I’d have pegged you for a Wolverine guy,” Stiles said with a shit-eating grin.

“Hasn’t Matt told you that dog jokes aren’t funny?” Derek said, but he was fighting off a smile; he did like Wolverine a lot too. 

“He’s mentioned it once or twice, but I’m pretty sure it’s a lie, because dog jokes are hilarious.” Stiles said and then added, “Marvel or DC?”

“In the comics or the movies?” Derek asked and knew he had answered correctly when Stiles smiled even wider. 

“We are going to have a discussion about this after we hang out with Marin,” Stiles said, parking the Jeep outside an unassuming house on Oak Street. “And beware her cat Binx, he’s not to be trusted.”

Derek nodded and opened the door to the Jeep. Marin Morrell was standing on her porch, her body silhouetted by the light from inside.  Derek had known her for most of his life, she had even worked at the high school, but something about seeing her just then made him wonder if he had been underestimating her.  “Derek,” She said in her even tone, giving nothing away, “Talia said you might be joining us at some point this summer.”

“It’s not a problem is it?” Derek asked, feeling uncomfortable under her gaze but he kept himself still and avoided looking around at Stiles for help.

“Of course not,” she said, stepping aside and letting them both inside.

Derek took inventory of the house as they walked in. There was a line of mountain ash across the stairs which made Derek wonder what was up there, there were also runes carved into the window frames. Along the floorboards, he saw more runes, but these were ones he didn’t recognize. He felt Stiles watching him and he turned away from the runes to follow Marin through to a small kitchen with a table that was laden with books that looked older than the three of them combined. 

“I’ve been teaching Stiles about interpack dynamics and some werewolf lore,” Marin said, her eyes on Derek in a way that made his skin prickle a little though he wasn’t quite sure why. “We were going to start on traditional supernatural being communities and communication between them.”

Derek nodded and pulled out a chair, sitting down as Marin started.  It was interesting stuff; Derek hadn’t realized some of the more formal traditions and channels that someone had to go through to get an official meeting with the fae, how easy it was to get in touch with a vampire nest, the three different ways you could approach a tree elf, or the one way you could approach a merperson.  He let his eyes drift over to Stiles at one point and saw that Stiles had his eyes on him as well, he quickly looked away but he knew his ears were burning red.  

“When contacting another pack formally, the alphas communicate through their emissaries at first,” Marin said with a nod at Stiles and it clicked in Derek’s head that Stiles must be training to be the McCall pack emissary. Why else would he be here training with Marin, she was the closest thing their pack had to an emissary. “Once the emissaries have made contact and established the meeting place, the alphas come with their seconds and emissaries only. After that initial meeting, the rest of the pack may be invited, but often in the case of treaties which are usually the reason for a formal meeting, the rest of the pack isn’t needed.”

“Why is that?” Stiles asked, looking up from the notes he had been taking.  Derek suddenly felt like he should be taking notes too, but he wasn’t sure why. Everyone knew that Laura was going to be the next alpha of the Hale pack; she had made that clear from childhood. 

“No one knows for sure,” Marin said, but her voice made Derek think she did. “They say it’s because back before human laws applied to werecreatures, many alphas would meet with the expectation for treating and would be ambushed and killed, leaving their pack susceptible to outsiders.  The emissaries became the middlemen and peacemakers.”

“How does a pack pick an emissary?” Derek asked, speaking for the first time since they had started their lesson. Marin gave him a half smile that made him feel like she could read his mind, and maybe she could with the help of those runes he didn’t recognize.

“It’s different for each pack; some packs have an emissary gifted with magic or a spark, like you Stiles, but some packs choose to use a human friend or family member who understands and can use runes,” Marin said and didn’t continue. 

Derek nodded and Stiles said, “It’s getting late, we should head back. I know I have to be up pretty early for my internship.”

“Thursday,” Marin said, directing it at both of them and not framing it as a question.

“Thursday,” Stiles said with a nod before heading out the front door.  Derek followed behind him and couldn’t help but feel like he missed something during their couple hour lesson.

“Is she always that cryptic when you go to her?” Derek asked when they were out of the driveway and headed toward home. “I always thought she was just like that at school because guidance counselors aren’t supposed to tell you what to do.”

Stiles laughed and Derek felt something in his chest clench. “She’s always like that, but I’m used to it. The guy I studied under before this was even worse. He was very wax on, wax off, but I still haven’t figured out how to use it yet.”

“So that makes you the karate kid in that analogy then?” Derek said with a small smile. “I would have pegged you as more of the ‘A Beautiful Mind’ type.”

“Can’t I be both?” Stiles asked with a grin at Derek. “I could totally be both.”

“You could be a teenager who used to get beat up a lot and a genius who loses his mind?” 

“Yeah I could!” Stiles said with a laugh, then asked, “Want to get ice cream? I always want ice cream after meeting with Morrel.”

Without waiting for Derek to respond, Stiles turned toward Dairy Queen.  They both got their ice cream and sat outside on the patio while they ate.  Derek had to avoid looking at Stiles while he licked his large chocolate and vanilla twist cone, because if he did look, he got some bad ideas. 

“You would be the kind of person who gets a kid cone and eats it meticulously so none of it melts,” Stiles said with a snort.  

“Your vanilla side is melting,” Derek said with a laugh that caught in his throat as Stiles licked from bottom of the cone to where the ice cream was to catch the drip of white ice cream. 

“Did I get all of it?” Stiles asked, licking around the bottom of the ice cream and looking at Derek. 

“Yeah,” Derek said, his voice cracking as he spoke.  He quickly turned his attention back to his own small cone and avoided looking at Stiles until he was finished with his cone and they headed back to the house. 


	12. Chapter 12

“Matt, Matt,” Stiles whispered outside Matt’s door after his second week of lessons with both Derek and Marin.  It was late, later than they usually got back because he and Derek had driven to Beacon Heights to get slushies from a place that Derek swore had the best slushies in the county. They had been good, but Stiles had been more glad for the excuse to spend an extra hour in the car with Derek. 

“What the fuck do you want, Stilinski?” Matt said, cracking the door and letting Stiles barge into his room. 

“What’s up with your brother?” Stiles asked, not even bothering to beat around the bush.  He threw himself into Matt’s desk chair and looked up at him expectantly. 

“Brandon is just a little weird, you get used to him,” Matt said with a straight face.  Stiles threw a pen at him and Matt laughed. “What did Derek do now?”

“He took me to his favorite slushie place and told me about his best friend at UCLA and about playing baseball,” Stiles said with a groan. He ran his hand over his face and added, “Then he made fun of me for getting a cherry slushie.”

Matt laughed, throwing his head back on his pillow and then said, “Dude, you have a fucking crush on my brother.”

“What, no,” Stiles said, his heart rate even, but Matt knew that Stiles could control his heart rate thanks to some trick from his teacher back in Eureka. “I don’t have a crush on  _ Derek _ ; don’t be stupid, dude.”

“Whatever you say, man,” Matt said, looking at his best friend and biting back a smile.  He had bet that Derek and Stiles would get together by the end of June, and it was the second week of the month now, so his timetable was probably right as long as Derek wasn’t a chicken shit and things kept on this path. “Will you get out? I have an opening shift tomorrow and it’s after fucking midnight.”

Stiles stood up, flipped Matt off, and walked out of the room as Matt rolled over and tried to fall back to sleep. 

Matt woke the next morning before the sun was up.  He hated when he had the opening shift in the garden center; it meant getting to the store by 5:30 to water the plants and get everything set up for the day. At least his time with Home Depot was limited; starting the next week he would be working at Beacon Hills High School as an assistant lacrosse coach for the summer training sessions and camps.  He just had to survive his last shift.

He wasn’t expecting anyone to be awake at 5 in the morning, so when he saw Derek sitting in the kitchen he stopped in the doorway. “Why are you awake?”

“Couldn’t sleep,” Derek said with a shrug. He looked like he hadn’t slept at all now that Matt could see him properly; he had little bags under his eyes, he was clutching a cup of coffee that had probably been cold for while, and his hair was standing on end like he had been running his hand through it.

“Is it something to do with a certain Stiles?”

“I saw Kate Argent last night,” Derek said and Matt understood.  Kate had tried to seduce Derek when he was still in high school, nothing had come of it, but Allison had told him later that year that Kate had been trying to get in with him so she could kill the Hales once and for all, “I wasn’t positive it was her until I texted Allison when I got home, but she was leaving that Mexican place in Beacon Heights when we drove passed it last night.”

“She wasn’t doing anything suspicious?” Matt asked, pouring himself a cup of coffee.  The entire Hale family was always on the lookout for Kate Argent and her friends even though Chris Argent was in on their treaty. None of them trusted his sister, and that included Chris.

“No, but she just worries me,” Derek said, running a hand over his face. “I’ll feel better when she’s gone; Ally said she’s leaving this weekend.”

“Good,” Matt said and then took a sip of his coffee.  He had forgotten how Derek worried about everyone, how he tried to take care of everyone. If Laura hadn’t been parading around as the ‘future alpha of the Hale Pack’ since childhood, Matt would have thought it would been Derek who took up the mantle from their mom when she stepped down.  “Maybe try to get some sleep? Worrying won’t make it any better, bro.”

Derek nodded and headed up the stairs, leaving Matt alone in the kitchen.  He knew that Derek didn’t have swimming lessons that morning and he didn’t think that the peewee baseball league played on Fridays, so maybe he would actually get some sleep. 

Matt’s drive to work was short and uneventful in the dull grey light of the morning, the sun still hadn’t broken over the horizon.  He didn’t hate this time of day, he just hated when he had to go into work this early.  The parking lot was empty, save his manager’s car and an old rusted-out Toyota that he was pretty sure had been abandoned in their lot for at least five years. 

Shifts were usually pretty uneventful for Matt. Mostly, he pointed people toward the mutch or flowers, and occasionally he helped little old ladies load things into their cars. More than one time he had his butt pinched by a middle aged soccer mom; it was exactly what he had expected when he got the job last summer and he would be happy when it was over, even if it meant having to deal with kids who were still in high school. At least they wouldn’t yell at him when the store was out of tulip bulbs.

He wasn’t at all surprised when two women got into an argument over who would get the last hanging fern until their next delivery; he wasn’t even that surprised when they weren’t subdued by his manager offering whoever waited half off, but what was surprising was the physical assault that happened.  The woman who had lost the tug of war with the plant had stepped back, picked up a single rose plant, and thrown it at the other woman’s retreating form.

Chaos ensued.  

Matt had to hold back is speed and strength as he went to get between the women; his manager, a girl in her mid-twenties who was clearly terrified called the police, and within three minutes there were four Beacon Hills Deputies running toward them, followed closely by Stiles, who was wearing the deputies uniform pants and a navy Beacon Hills Sheriff Department polo. 

The presence of armed police officers wasn’t enough to calm the women, who were now covered in dirt and scratches.  Matt was glad for werewolf healing because his arms were covered in cuts and bruises from where the women had tried to get through him instead of going around him.  

It was another ten minutes before the women were calm enough to stop yelling and another fifteen after that before the officers started taking statements.  Matt could see Stiles biting back a laugh as he looked at Matt. “We’re going to need to take your statement,” Deputy Jordan Parrish said to Matt with an apologetic smile.

“Yeah of course,” Matt said, letting Jordan lead him away from the crowd of officers and onlookers.  

“Before we get into the official report,” Jordan said, looking over his shoulder to make sure they were out of earshot of the group, “is there something going on with Derek and Stiles? He hadn’t stopped talking about him all week and today he’s been painfully quiet about the whole thing.”

Matt grinned, “That means he actually likes him. Stiles gets quiet about someone when he actually grows feelings.”

“Is there a pool for when they’ll get together?” Jordan asked with a grin.

“Why, Deputy Parrish, are you asking to get in on a bet? An upstanding citizen like yourself shouldn’t partake in such things,” Matt said and Parrish rolled his eyes. “Yeah, twenty dollar buy in, I’ll send you my Google Sheet.”

“Great.  Now about those women,” Jordan said and they both turned to look again.  They were still glaring at each other and Matt could see Stiles talking to the one who had thrown the first flower.

Matt spent the rest of his shift after he gave his statement cleaning up the mess that had been made.  It felt fitting for his last shift as a Home Depot employee because he had spent all of last summer and the first few weeks of this one cleaning up after everyone’s messes in the home and garden center; This time it was just a little more extreme. At least his last day would make for a good story, and he had another twenty dollars in his pocket for the Stiles and Derek pool.

By the time Matt got home, showered off all the dirt and dried blood, and got down stairs, Stiles was sitting on the kitchen counter while Derek made what smelled like grilled cheese.  “Mom’s stuck in a late meeting and Dad’s at the firehouse tonight; you’re on your own for dinner.”

“Want to grab a pizza?” Matt asked Stiles, who turned a tinge pink.

“Derek’s making me one of his ‘world famous’ grilled cheeses,” Stiles said, putting air quotes around word famous. “I told him no one makes a better grilled cheese than my grandma, but he thinks he can top it.”

Matt laughed, of course Derek was trying to stealth-woo Stiles with food.  When Derek and Paige had dated way back when, Derek had nearly burned down their kitchen trying to make her homemade fried chicken. “Derek’s grilled cheese is average at best,” Matt said, walking over to Derek and elbowing him in the side. 

“That’s a lie and you know it,” Derek said as he meticulously spread soft butter onto the sourdough bread that their mom kept in the freezer for occasions like this.  

“Well, I’m going to get pizza,” Matt said as he walked out of the kitchen and added, “Want to hang out in the treehouse later? I think I found an extension cord long enough to reach so we can put up the projector and watch a movie.”

“I’m down,” Stiles said, leaning back on his hands and looking at Matt for the first time since he had come into the kitchen.

“As long as it isn’t one of those terrible werewolf movies,” Derek said as he flipped the grilled cheese and looked over at Matt.  

“No promises,” Stiles said and Derek’s ears turned pink.  

God, they were clueless, Matt thought as he walked out the door and heard their awkward attempts at flirting.  He pulled out his phone and shot Derek a quick text that read, ‘trying to woo Stiles with your cooking skills I see’. He heard Derek nearly drop something from the kitchen and laughed to himself as he got into the car and drove to the pizza place.


	13. Chapter 13

Derek was  _ not _ trying to woo Stiles with his cooking skills, no matter what Matt said.  Maybe he was trying to impress him, but not woo him; that’s just silly.  He snapped out of his thoughts to a sound that could have been straight out of a porno.  

Stiles had half of his grilled cheese in his hand; his eyes were shut and there was a string of melty cheese attached to his lip as he chewed the sandwich. After he swallowed, he opened his eyes and looked at Derek. “This is a pretty good grilled cheese, I’ll give you that one, Hale.”

“You’ve got-” Derek motioned to his lip and it was like watching a car crash because he couldn’t look away as Stiles’ tongue darted out of his mouth to catch the cheese, but he missed and Derek stepped forward to pull it off for him. “Here.”

Stiles stuck his tongue out of his mouth to catch the strand of cheese that was now dangling from Derek’s fingers, and Derek felt a swoop in his stomach as Stiles ate it and then went back to his sandwich like nothing had happened.  He couldn’t take his eyes off of Stiles. The way he chewed the sandwich slowly, savoring every bite and making little moaning sounds while he chewed, the way his eyes were almost honey-colored in the evening light, it was going to be the end of Derek. 

“Aren’t you going to eat yours?” Stiles asked as he picked up the other half of his sandwich and looked up at Derek with his big brown eyes.

“Yeah,” Derek said, his voice a little rough as his heart caught in his throat.  His eyes were glued to Stiles’ every move as he lifted his sandwich to Derek’s mouth and fed him a bite.  It would have been an incredibly intimate moment if Brandon hadn’t picked that moment to come bursting into the kitchen. 

“Dude, did you make me a grilled cheese?” Brandon asked, his eyes bright and Derek couldn’t be mad at him, not with how excited he looked. 

Stiles took Derek’s distraction as an opportunity and shoved the sandwich in his face with a laugh, then jumped off the counter and slid past Derek. “I’m going to go get started reading that book Marin lent us. See you both for movie night later!”

Derek looked over at Brandon after Stiles left the room and saw him eating Derek’s sandwich. “That one was mine, man,” Derek said with a huff, pulling out the bread so he could make another.

“Were you and Stiles just flirting?” Brandon asked around a mouthful of cheesy deliciousness. 

“No,” Derek grunted, buttering the bread with more force than necessary.

“You guys have been attached at the hip the last couple weeks.”

“We’re both into supernatural stuff,” Derek said.  It was true, he and Stiles were together pretty much constantly when they weren’t working.  It had started with a conversation at breakfast the morning after their first combined session with Morrell, and had later led to texting on and off all day and a late night pseudo study session in treehouse.  

Derek still couldn’t get a read on Stiles, though; he was almost too good at covering his emotions and heart rate.  He would slip every so often, but usually when he was excited about something they had learned. “Whatever you say, bro,” Brandon said as he finished the sandwich and then added, “Movie night in the treehouse?”

“Yeah,” Derek nodded as he headed toward the stairs.  He really had every intention of going to his room to relax before they spent their entire night in the treehouse watching terrible movies, but Stiles’ door was cracked and he could hear him muttering to himself, something that Stiles admitted he did when he was focused on a reading or assignment.

“Hey,” Derek said, knocking on the the door and pushing it open a little further.

“So this article that Morrell gave us is actually really interesting; it talks about alpha lines of succession and how the pack emissary has to do a ritual if the alpha wants to step down before they die so that it will pass to the most worthy pack member.”

“The alpha can’t just pick?” Derek asked as he stepped into the room and looked around.  It looked different then when Peter had lived in it; the walls were covered in news clippings and strings, the desk was scattered with books and papers, the bed, where Stiles was laying, was rumpled and looked lived in.  When Peter had lived with them, his room had almost looked like a showroom. 

“I guess not,” Stiles said, handing Derek the book opened to the passage he had just been reading. “But most Alphas have an idea about who it’ll be and take them under their wing.  I think that most of the time it’s that person, but sometimes it’s someone else and it can cause tension in a pack if it’s not handled properly.”

“It’ll be Laura for us,” Derek said as he looked down at the book.

“Maybe,” Stiles said, looking at Derek with an expression that Derek couldn’t read, “I don’t think your mom is putting all her eggs in that basket, though.”

Derek didn’t respond, he just looked at Stiles for a minute then changed the subject. “So why were you dirty after your internship today?”

“Holy shit you have to ask Matt about it,” Stiles said with a laugh, “but there was a middle-aged-woman-fight in the garden department of Home Depot today.”

“What a way to end his career there,” Derek said dryly and Stiles grinned wider.

They fell into silence, Derek reading over the book that Stiles had passed him and Stiles standing by the wall, moving papers around and messing with the strings so different pictures were attached to different colors.  

While Stiles’ back was to him, Derek took the time to admire his form.  He could tell Stiles had been the kind of kid who grew about a foot overnight; he had probably been all knobby knees and sharp elbows in high school with a thin face that somehow had baby fat in the cheeks still.  Derek would have liked him then too.  He would have liked Stiles any time, any place, in any lifetime. He had realized that the night before, when they had driven by Kate Argent and Stiles had kept him calm without even realizing it. 

He turned around and Derek quickly looked back at the book.  It was an interesting read but he couldn’t focus on it, not with Stiles in the room. Not with his scent all around him and his steady but slightly fast heartbeat pounding in his ears.  It was almost too much, but at the same time it wasn’t enough.  “Did you get to the part about born wolves being the only kind of alphas that can pass their powers down without killing or dying?”

Derek nodded even though he hadn’t; he knew that Stiles would tell him more about it than he would learn from reading it himself. “It’s actually pretty cool, bitten wolves can be the one to receive the power from a born wolf if they’re in the pack, but they can’t do the ritual to give it away; it has to be taken from them.  I guess in theory they don’t actually have to die, but I haven’t heard of another way to take power,” Stiles said thoughtfully.

“What about True Alphas?” Derek asked curiously. According to werewolf gossip, Scott McCall was a True Alpha and Stiles had lived in that pack’s territory; he would probably be their emissary one day.

“That’s a bunch of bullshit made up by some Druid hundreds of years ago,” Stiles said, and he smelled a little bitter, like he was letting his control of his emotions stip.  Derek felt his heart beat a little faster at the thought of Stiles trusting him enough to show how he was really feeling. “People only think it’s real because most people don’t know that an alpha’s power can be passed to a bitten wolf upon death or ritual.”

“So your alpha isn’t a True Alpha?”

“ _ I _ don’t have an alpha or a pack yet,” Stiles said, and the bitterness was gone. It was replaced with a warm smell, like hope. “And Scott isn’t a True Alpha, he lucked out and somehow won a fight against the rogue alpha that bit him. He thought killing him would make him human again, instead he became a 17 year old alpha and almost lost his mind.”

“I didn’t know that,” Derek said. He was kind of surprised that Stiles was telling him all this, especially if Stiles was hoping to be Scott’s emissary one day.

“Deaton, his old boss, helped him through it,” Stiles said, “It’s been like 15 years now and he’s a decent alpha, but not a True one; that’s a bunch of bullshit. I don’t know how that rumor got started, but omegas keep coming to him for sanctuary and he keeps taking them in. The legend has helped him grow his pack, at least.”

They fell back into an easy quiet, broken only by the turning of pages and occasional rustle of blankets as Stiles rolled into a more comfortable position on the bed. “You’re a bigger nerd than I was expecting,” Stiles said suddenly after about an hour of quiet.

“Thanks?”

“You’re welcome,” Stiles said with a grin. He rolled off the bed and stood behind Derek, reading over his shoulder.

“Can I help you?” Derek asked, his heart pounding in his chest.  He had to remind himself that Stiles was Matt’s best friend, that Stiles wasn't into him, and that Stiles went to college six hours away from him.  Nothing would ever come of this stupid crush; he just needed to keep reminding himself of that. 

“Nope,” Stiles said with a laugh, his breath ghosting across Derek’s ear. He had to hold back a shudder and goosebumps broke across his neck. “What did you think of this part?”

Derek looked at the passage that Stiles was pointing to about alpha and emissary relationships.  “It sounds like some of the strongest pairs of alphas and emissaries have been in romantic relationships.  They balance each other and the pack, kind of like yin and yang.”

Stiles read out loud: “Though in no way required, emissaries and alphas who share a physical bond offer a strong support system to the pack.  A shared physical and emotional bond can act as an anchor for both alpha and emissary, keeping both grounded and adding power to the pack as a whole.”

“Guess I’ll have to set Laura up with an emissary then,” Derek said, leaning away from Stiles just slightly so he could breathe in air that wasn’t entirely Stiles’ scent.

“It might not be Laura,” Stiles said, his voice gave nothing away but Derek felt like Stiles was saying it could be  _ him _ , which just wasn’t going to happen; everyone knew it was Laura.

He didn't get the chance to respond because Matt chose that moment to open the door and say, “We’ve got the projector all hooked up and Brandon already picked the first movie.”

“It’s not some B werewolf horror movie, is it?” Derek asked as they made their way outside to the treehouse.  There were three extension cords plugged together to reach from the house to the treehouse, but at least it worked. 

“Nah, it’s a comedy,” Matt said without a trace of a lie. 

They got situated in the treehouse on the pillows and beanbag chairs before Brandon put the movie on the wall.  “Fucking Teen Wolf? Really, guys?” Derek said without any real heat behind his words. 

“It’s not a B-horror movie,” Stiles supplied to his right and Derek flipped him off. 

“I hate all of you,” Derek said, leaning further back onto his seat and he felt more than saw Stiles shift so they were a little closer. He didn’t let himself think about what that could mean because it was never going to happen, even if he really,  _ really _ wanted it to. 


	14. Chapter 14

People don't ever  _ forget _ about Brandon Hale, but sometimes he slipped their minds.  He was the youngest of the Hale boys, and when you’ve seen that many Hales come in and out of a school it’s hard to keep them straight, especially when they’re all tall, sharp cheekboned, pale-eyed, and supernaturally good looking. Brandon didn’t mind that he flew under the radar; it meant that he got away with more, and it also meant that he overheard conversations that people might not have wanted him to overhear. 

One such conversation was overheard while Brandon was working a shift at the local coffee shop in the third week of June. There were two girls that he recognized as graduates of Beacon Hills High School, but he didn’t know their names.  They might have been Derek’s age, if he was remembering correctly. 

“Have you seen Derek Hale this summer?” one of the girls said, leaning closer to her friend and whispering. The other girl must have shaken her head because the first continued, “He’s giving my little sister fielding lessons and holy shit he looks  _ so good _ .  Like picture high school Derek, but a little taller, and with, like, double the muscle, and a five o’clock shadow.”

“No way,” the second girl said, her voice was a little higher than the first girls, “But he was already kind of hot in high school.”

“So. Much. Hotter.”

“Wow, maybe we should try to hang out with Laura, maybe she’ll be an in,” the second said. Brandon couldn’t help but roll his eyes; Laura would see right through those girls. 

“I asked him out for ice cream after the lesson yesterday and he got kind of weird and said he had plans,” the first girl said and Brandon bit back a grin. Derek’s plans last night had been hanging out with him and Matt for a few hours and then pouring over maps of ley lines with Stiles until almost midnight. This girl didn’t have a chance in hell with his big brother.

As if Derek had felt himself being talked about, he walked into the shop behind Stiles, who was talking animatedly about something. Derek had a soft look on his face that Brandon had never seen before, not even when Derek was looking at puppies.  “Hey Brandon!” Stiles said excitedly as they walked up to the counter.  Brandon could see the girls looking at Derek with hungry eyes. 

“Hey guys,” Brandon said, wiping his hands on his apron and pushing his hair off his face. “What can I get for you?”

“Double espresso over ice please,” Stiles said with a grin and Derek groaned.

“Do you really need more energy?” 

“Yes.” 

“I’ll have an iced mocha,” Derek said with a shake of his head.  He pulled out his wallet and paid for both drinks even as Stiles protested. Derek cut him off: “You paid for the ice cream on Monday.”

Stiles huffed but didn’t say anything else.  They made their way down the counter to wait for their drinks and Brandon couldn’t help but smile as the two girls watched Derek and Stiles interact. “That explains why he didn’t want to go out for ice cream you,” The second girl said with a final look at Derek and Stiles. 

Brandon watched as Derek grabbed his drink and two straws before putting his hand on Stiles lower back and leading him toward the big arm chairs in the corner by the windows.  Both of the girls openly stared at the interaction; it was such a personal touch that even Brandon felt like he was watching something he shouldn’t be.  Derek wasn’t the most outwardly expressive person in general outside of the family, so for him to be almost on a date with Stiles in public and touching him meant a lot and Brandon knew that. 

He could hear the girls still whispering about Derek, but they weren’t using his name and Brandon was grateful for that. He didn’t want Derek hearing a couple girls talk about what they’d like to do with him if he would let them.  Brandon didn’t want to hear it either; he tried to focus his hearing elsewhere, but he didn’t particularly want to hear Derek and Stiles’ awkward attempts at flirting.

“That thing you did with the runes was cool,” Derek said and Brandon snorted out a laugh.  Derek glared at him before continuing, “Do you think you could do it on a larger scale, or is it too much energy?”

Stiles was quiet for a minute, considering. “I could if I had the right tools and someone with me to make sure I didn’t push it too far.”

“I’d be there,” Derek said, like it was the most obvious thing in the world.  “I just wonder if you could place the runes strategically over the ley lines to magnify the power and cast the protection over the town.”

Stiles looked at Derek like he had just hung the moon in front of him. “That’s brilliant! And with the intersection of the lines, we might be able to double the strength of the protection.”

Brandon had no idea what they were talking about, but he smiled to himself anyway because both of them were looking at the other like they were the best thing in the room.  At that moment, his boss called him into the back to do inventory. When he was finished, Derek and Stiles were both gone, but he was pretty sure they were probably still hanging out. Derek’s truck was missing from the driveway when Brandon got home an hour later. 

“Hey sweetie,” his mom said as he walked into the house. “How was work?”

“It was alright,” Brandon said, kicking his shoes off and walking into the kitchen. “Derek and Stiles came in.”

“Together?” She asked him, her voice even but her eyes were excited.  This was the week she had picked for the pool.

“Yeah, they hung out for like an hour or something,” Brandon said, then asked, “Is Stiles here?”

“No, he and Derek are both at Marin Morrell’s house for a lesson this evening,” she said and smiled again. “I wonder if they were on a date this afternoon.”

“I don’t think so, Stiles was wearing his work clothes so I’m guessing they ran into each other,” Brandon said with a shrug. “No meddling either, Mom; it’s against the rules.”

“The rules are stupid,” she said with frown, then went back to shaping burgers. “Wash your hands and come help me with dinner.”

Brandon kept an ear out for the telltale rumble of Derek’s truck all through dinner, and when it didn’t come up the driveway during the meal, he kept listening for it while the family had a bonfire in the backyard.  It was a Friday night tradition in the Hale pack; anyone who was around would stop over and hang out for a little bit.  It wasn’t a formal pack meeting by any standard, but it was a good way for their mom to check in with everyone and make sure there wasn’t anything funny going on in their territory, 

Everyone stopped talking as the black SUV that belonged to Chris Argent pulled up the driveway.  They had all been taught the sound of the hunter’s car from an early age, at first so they would stay away and then after the treaty so they could find him if they needed an ally. “I wanted to come tell you personally that Kate is gone,” Chris said, walking toward Talia with his powerful stride. “She won’t be back any time soon.”  
“Thank you for keeping us in the loop,” Talia said in her formal voice. After a beat, she said, “Want a s’more, Chris?”

“Why not?” he said with a laugh, accepting the s’more from Talia and taking a bite as he sat down and started talking with Uncle Patrick. 

“Sometimes I forget that the Argents are dangerous hunters,” Matt said in a whisper to Brandon.  As he said it, the melty s’more oozed out the back of the crackers and onto Chris’s hand.  

“They aren’t that dangerous to us,” Brandon whispered back, “at least not Chris and Allison, and they keep the other hunters out of our area.”

Matt nodded in agreement and then whipped his head around a moment later when he heard Derek’s truck come up the drive.  “They were out late,” Matt said with a sly smile. “I wonder what they were getting up to.”

“Oh leave them be, Matthew,” Talia said and Matt frowned.  

Brandon was glad that his mom was defending them, though; he really liked Stiles and he hadn’t seen Derek this happy and himself around someone outside of the family, well, ever. It was like he was coming alive for the first time in his life, and it made Brandon feel like it was possible for that to happen to him too. 

Derek and Stiles walked over to the fire, close enough that their shoulders brushed twice on the short walk over. “Marin kept you late,” Talia said with a knowing look in her eyes.

“Oh you know how Morrell is,” Stiles said with a wave of his hand, his heart beat steady but a slight pink tinge on his cheeks gave him away.   

“Well, grab a stick and make s’mores guys,” she said, letting the subject drop.  Brandon saw both Stiles and Derek’s shoulders drop in relief at not having to answer any more questions about their night.  If he had to bet, Derek probably took Stiles to the other side of the preserve where they used to run when they were kids to look at the stars. However, he would also put money on neither of them looking at the stars that much.


	15. Chapter 15

Derek was doing  _ fine _ at not flirting with Stiles; he really, really was.  Well, except for making him dinner three times in the last week and spending all of his free time with him and touching him a lot, and almost kissing him after the bonfire the night before. He was doing  _ great _ . Except maybe he wasn’t, and maybe Stiles had stopped putting up his defenses and had started letting Derek  _ smell _ his interest, but he was still Matt’s best friend. He was still another pack’s future emissary, and he still went to school six hours away from him, so it couldn’t happen even if he really wanted it to.

Somehow June turned to July in the blink of an eye, and Derek could feel the ending of summer pressing on him.  In his head, once the 4th of July passed, it was the end of summer because everything after that day flew by; yet suddenly, the 4th was upon them. 

“Derek, honey,” Talia said with a soft knock on his door. “Can you help me with some of the prep in the kitchen?”

Derek grunted; he was buried under his comforter and three pillows. “Yeah,” he said when he finally managed to extract his face from the fort of pillows and blankets. 

He came down the stairs ten minutes later; hair still sleep-mussed, athletic shorts hanging low on his hips, and without a shirt.  He scratched his stomach sleepily as he walked into the kitchen, eyes still half shut from waking up.

“Are you allergic to shirts?” Stiles said from the counter where he was scooping watermelon onto a tray.  Derek blinked sleepily at him and shrugged.

“Don’t be offended, Stiles,” Cora said from the porch where she was putting up red, white and blue streamers. “He’s not really a functioning person until he’s been awake for at least an hour and has had a cup of coffee.”

Stiles nodded and stopped the with the watermelon. He got a mug out, poured coffee into it, then milk, and then added two spoonfuls of sugar, before handing it to Derek. “Drink it so you can help.”

Derek took a sip and moaned softly at the perfect mix of milk and sugar, then his eyes widened and he looked up at Stiles who was seemingly paying him no attention as he continued to work on the watermelon.  He could see a faint flush on his cheeks even before Derek spoke, “You know how I like my coffee?”

“You take it disgustingly sweet; if you weren’t a werewolf, you’d be obese and a diabetic I swear to god,” Stiles said sounding a little annoyed, but more fond than anything. 

“Well it’s a good thing I’m a werewolf then; I wouldn’t want you to worry about my sugar intake,” Derek said, a soft smile on his face.  He knew he looked like a lovesick school kid, but he honestly didn’t care anymore. 

Stiles looked up at him then, his mouth opened to speak right as Matt walked inside. “I have about fifty pounds of ground beef in the car for the cookout tonight. Mom, how many people did you invite this year?”

“You know that the whole town is always invited,” Talia called from the back yard.

When Derek looked back at Stiles, he was looking away and the moment was gone, but it  _ had  _ been a moment.  Derek wasn’t going to survive the rest of the summer at this rate, even if it was almost over by his standard. 

Derek quickly finished his coffee, his  _ perfect _ cup of coffee, and started slicing strawberries for the flag tray. Every so often, he would look up and see Stiles looking at him. They would both quickly look away, but they knew the other was looking. 

“Where do they set off fireworks in this town?” Stiles asked him after they had finished with the fruit and were moving on the shucking corn on the porch.  Somehow everyone else had managed to avoid helping them which would normally annoy Derek, but now he was glad for the excuse to be alone with Stiles.  

“At the park near the public pool,” Derek said, pointing east and adding, “We get a decent view from the treehouse; that’s where we usually watch from.”

“I think Matt said he’s going to some girl named Lydia’s house to watch them; he invited me but I’m not sure I feel like going to get drunk with a bunch of high school kids,” Stiles said.

“Lydia is Cora’s maybe-girlfriend,” Derek explained. He added, “You can always hang out here with me and Brandon.”

“I’ll probably do that,” Stiles said, leaning back in his seat. “I’m just glad they didn’t ask me to work down at the station today; that would have been miserable.”

“You know being a cop means you’ll have to work holidays,” Derek reminded him, his voice teasing.

“I don’t want to be a cop though, this is just a stepping stone,” Stiles said, tossing the corn husk into the bag to be added to the compost pile. “I want to be a consultant and supernatural investigator, but my dad wanted me to see what ‘real’ police work is like because he figured I’d fall in love with it.”

“Is there a need for supernatural consultants up in Eureka? I thought their police department was in the know after the Hellmouth opened in the mid-90s,” Derek asked. He knew a little about Eureka, but most of what he knew was based on word of mouth and Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

“They are,” Stiles said, reaching for another ear of corn and discovering that there were none left. Derek instantly regretted how quickly he had shucked his part of the pile. “But I don’t want to stay in Eureka; Hellmouths aren’t my scene.”

Derek didn’t say anything else, but he felt a little bit of hope well up in his chest at the idea of Stiles not wanting to move back to Eureka. “Oh good, you’re done with the corn,” Talia said with a smile. “Can you two run to the store and pick up ice? Matt forgot it when he went out before.”

They made their way to Stiles’ Jeep because Derek’s truck was blocked in by Cora and Laura’s cars, and drove into town. “Forgot the ice my ass, Matt just didn’t want to make two stops,” Stiles said with a laugh.  They both knew it was true. Matt, for being a great athlete, was incredibly lazy when it came to other things in his life.

Instead of going to the gas station that was just off the main road near the Hale house, Stiles turned toward town. “The longer we take, the less set up we have to deal with,” Stiles said with a smile and Derek grinned back. 

They ended up at the grocery store clear across town and headed inside; it was a little busier than Derek had expected, but he should have known that people would be doing their last minute cook out shopping while most of the town was at the parade. He grabbed three bags of ice and headed to a register, Stiles close behind him with another bag of ice and a box of red, white, and blue popsicles.  Derek made a mental note to avoid Stiles while he ate those because he didn’t think he’d be able to survive it again. 

By the time they got back to the house, most of the extended family had shown up and they were setting up tables in the back yard. “You’d think that after 21 of these, we would know to set up the night before,” Derek whispered to Stiles who snorted out a laugh before getting out of the car.

“Oh good, you’re back,” Talia said as they dropped the ice bags next to the coolers out back. “Derek, can you help us with the tent? Your father can’t seem to remember how to get it to lock into place.”

Derek nodded and jogged over to where three people were wrestling a 15-by-15-foot white tent.  Every year, they forgot that they had to pull the white top over the sides before walking the legs out or else it would collapse in on itself before it was all the way up, and every year Derek had to fix it.  Sometimes, he wasn’t sure how his family functioned, but it always seemed to work out in the end.  He pulled the top of the tent over the sides and helped get it locked into place, then left them to hammer the pegs into the ground so it wouldn’t blow away. 

He couldn’t seem to find Stiles anywhere when he went back into the house, but he decided that he had done enough to help with the prep and that he could finally shower and get ready for the rest of the day.  People usually started to show up around 2 and it was already 1:30, so he didn't have time for anything but a quick shower, but he’d make it work. 

The hallway that housed most of their bedrooms was busy with everyone rushing to get ready. Laura was yelling at Cora for stealing her shorts, Nora had half her hair curled, Brandon was in Matt’s room picking through his shirts, and Matt was stretched out on his bed, somehow sleeping through all of it.  Derek grabbed a clean towel from the linen closet and opened the bathroom door to find wall of steam and Stiles shaving his face with nothing but a towel slung over his hips.  “Oh shit, I’m so sorry,” Derek said, reaching to close the door. 

“It’s alright, I shouldn't have taken so much time,” Stiles said, the razor poised close to his chin as he spoke and his cheeks were spotted red.  There was the thick smell of Stiles in the bathroom, of cinnamon, trees, and ozone, and Derek took a deep breath through his mouth to settle himself. “You can get started if you want, I won’t look.”

Derek couldn’t think of a reason to say no, so he stepped into the bathroom and shut the door, dropped his towel onto the closed lid of the toilet, and pulled his sweaty shirt over his head.  It wasn’t a tiny bathroom, but it was small enough that he almost brushed against Stiles’ as he pulled his athletic shorts off his hips and kicked them aside.  He turned the water on and stepped under the cold spray, hoping it would help with his boner.

“Of course you’re the cold shower type,” Stiles said with a laugh.  Derek heard him rinse the sink out and put his razor back into the medicine cabinet.

“Oh shut up,” Derek said.  He quickly washed his hair and let the cool water wash over him before he soaped his body up and got all the grime and sweat off.  “Get out already, would you? Unless you want to see me naked.”

“Don’t tempt me with a good time Hale,” Stiles said and Derek could practically see the smirk on Stiles face.

“Like you’d have the nerve,” Derek said, rinsing off and shutting the shower off.  He grabbed the towel and wrapped it around his waist before pulling the curtain back and found Stiles still there. “Gonna let me out?” he asked. Stiles glanced quickly at where Derek’s hands were holding the towel at his waist before his eyes snapped back up and he turned a similar color to the watermelon he was scooping earlier. Derek sighed. “The door, Stiles.”

“Ohsureyeahthat,” Stiles mumbled and reached behind him, finding the door handle after a moment and swinging it open.  He stumbled backward out of the room, his eyes still on Derek as he did, and Derek smirked.  He walked to his room, still dripping wet, but very proud of himself for not making a fool of himself  _ and _ for making Stiles blush. 


	16. Chapter 16

The Annual Hale Fourth of July Cookout was the stuff of legend in Beacon Hills.  The tradition started before any of the youngest generations of Hale’s were born, but was expected to be carried on by them when the older generations were gone. When he was younger, Derek found all the sights and sounds of the the party overwhelming, and before they had the treehouse he would just hide in a tree until someone found him and made him come back. When his mom explained that the Hales were protectors of the town and they needed to get to know the people they were protecting, it got easier.

This was his twentieth cookout, and by now he was a seasoned professional at them. He walked outside in his dark-washed jeans and a terrible American Flag shirt that his mom insisted he wear and was grabbed by the arm. “Derek, honey, you look so grown up,” Mrs. Caldwell, the elderly librarian he had known most of his life, said as she patted him on the cheek. “A beard and everything.  You look just like your father did when he was your age.”

“Oh, I don’t think so,” Derek said with a grin. “He was probably a little bit better looking; I mean, he was Mr. Beacon Hills when he was in high school.”

Mrs. Caldwell smiled at him and patted his cheek again. “You’re a very handsome boy, you’ll meet a fine young lady one day.” Derek heard someone snort behind him and knew that it was Matt. “Bless you, Matthew.”

“Matt actually just finished his first year at Berkeley,” Derek said, shooting Matt a sharp smile.

“Oh, my son went to Berkeley back in the ‘70s,” Mrs. Caldwell said, turning her attention to Matt. Derek managed to slip away just as he heard her say, “You know Matthew, if you come by the library this week I can give you a set of books on the history of Berkeley.”

Derek grabbed a bottle of water out of a cooler before he made his way deeper into the growing crowd of people. He stopped and talked every so often, much like his mom did, and finally he made it to the back near the grill where his dad and Peter were standing.

“Good turn out this year,” Joseph said when Derek got over to them. “Seems like everyone your age wants to see how Derek Hale grew up while he was at college.”

“They saw me last summer, I look the same,” Derek said, running a hand over the back of his head and shifting from one foot to the other a little awkwardly.

“You’ve grown into yourself a little more my dear nephew; I think your houseguest Stiles would attest to that,” Peter said in his usual cryptic tone and Derek shot him a half-assed glare.  He had grown up with Peter acting more like an older brother than an uncle; he was used to his teasing, but being used to it didn’t mean he had to like it.

Derek flipped Peter off when his dad turned back to the grill and then slipped away when he saw Allison walking toward them.  He liked to keep Allison and Peter apart whenever possible because to say that didn’t get along would be the understatement of the century.

“If Peter tries to talk to me today I’m going to shoot him,” Allison said casually as Derek walked over to her.  Allison was dressed a little less patriotically than Derek in a simple blue tank top and white shorts, but she had never been the type to go all out on holidays like the Hales did.

“He won’t, he stills remembers New Years Eve too well,” Derek said with a laugh. “Are you going to the park for the fireworks tonight?”

“I think Malia and I are going to that party at Lydia’s house, actually,” Allison said, looking around for her girlfriend as she spoke. “Aren’t you going?”

“Nah, I think I’m going to hang out on the roof of the treehouse like we did last summer,” Derek said with a shrug. “I think Stiles and Brandon might do that too.”

“I heard Brandon was getting threatened into going to Lydia’s by Cora,” Allison said with a laugh, “so I’m guessing he’ll be there, and I’d avoid Cora if you don’t want to go.”

“She doesn’t scare me,” Derek said, and it was mostly the truth.

The cookout continued as usual; people stopped in and mingled, the humans drank too much beer, the werewolves ate almost all the food, and everything was good.  The Fourth of July was one of the best holidays in Beacon Hills because of the Hale party and as the day wore on, the party always changed directions a little bit. This year was no different.

By 7 o’clock, everyone who was going somewhere to watch the fireworks had gone, and the rest of the people in attendance were full and happy.  The end of the party found Derek sitting at a picnic table with Allison, Malia, Stiles, and Brandon, a half-eaten burger on his plate and a half-empty beer in front of Allison. “Just come with us,” she said, her hand on Malia’s thigh. Derek didn’t want to think about what would be happening tonight between his best friend and his cousin, and he _really_ didn’t want to be there to see it for himself.

“Yeah, I’m going to pass,” Derek said with one last look at the hand.  His eyes met Stiles’, who looked pretty happy about Derek saying no.

“Cool, that means I don’t have to go then,” Stiles said with a grin.  

“Well, we’re heading over there now,” Allison said, standing up and pulling Malia to her feet with her. Brandon stood too and shot Derek a look that clearly said ‘help me’, but Derek just waved. “You know where to find us if you change your mind.”

Derek waited until he couldn’t hear the car in the driveway anymore before he turned to Stiles. “Want to watch the fireworks from the roof of the treehouse?”

“Fuck yeah,” Stiles said with a wide smile.  

“Boys, before you do that, do you mind helping with cleanup?” Talia asked. Derek, being the dutiful son, nodded, and started to grab some of the trash that hadn’t made it into the trash cans.

“Shoulda gone to the party,” Stiles said with a laugh as they wrapped up the uneaten veggie trays.

“You know, we could still go,” Derek said, his voice quiet. He didn’t want to stop Stiles from having fun even if he didn’t want to be there.

“No way, we’re almost done with this and that means we can grab a couple popsicles and hang out on the roof of your badass treehouse while they light the sky on fire,” Stiles said with a smile at Derek, his eyes soft. “So hurry your furry butt up with your half of the food.”

Derek nodded and finished his half of the food at werewolf pace, a smirk on his face as he leaned against the door frame of the kitchen. “Hurry your skinny ass up, we have fireworks to watch.”

“Oh, fuck you! My ass isn’t skinny, it’s actually very round and firm,” Stiles said, shaking it in Derek’s direction for good measure.  Derek swallowed and willed himself to not get a boner. It didn’t work, so he turned slightly to the side and adjusted himself so he wasn’t tenting his jeans. He had to bite back a groan when he moved again and his jeans rubbed against him.  

“Just hurry up,” Derek said with an eyeroll.  Stiles finished his stuff and stretched his arms over his head; Derek could hear his shoulders pop as he did it and then Stiles let out a soft moan before lowering his arms.

“Shall we?”

Derek nodded and opened the door; Stiles quickly grabbed two popsicles and jogged out the door, leaving Derek to trail behind him for a moment before he started jogging too. “Race ya!”

“NO WOLF POWERS!” Stiles yelled as he took off in a sprint after Derek, who was already halfway to the tree.

When Stiles climbed into the tree a minute later he glared at Derek, who was laying across a beanbag chair with a grin on his face. “You made it! I was starting to think you ditched me.”

“You’re a dick, and a cheater,” Stiles said, tossing a popsicle at Derek’s head and added, “Are we going to the roof or what?”

“Think you can make it?” Derek asked with a shit-eating grin.  He pulled himself bodily through a window and onto the roof.  He could hear Stiles curse at him before he took the safer way through a trap door inside the treehouse.

Stiles sat down next to Derek, his long legs stretched in front of him, and opened the popsicle.  Derek hadn’t seen him eat one since the first time they met, and he had to bite the inside of the mouth to keep from reacting when Stiles managed to get the entire thing into his mouth.

“You’re killing me,” Derek finally said, then he turned away, his ears burning red as he did.  He was glad that it was almost dark so Stiles couldn’t see it.

“What?” Stiles asked, licking some of the juice off his hand and turning to Derek.  He must have seen something in Derek’s eyes because he very deliberately licked the last of his popsicle and then his lips.

“Oh fuck it,” Derek said and then he leaned forward and pressed his lips to Stiles.  They were a little cold under his, but soft and he felt a shock go through his body, like he had touched a hot wire.

For a second, Derek was worried he had read it wrong because Stiles was unmoving. Then the shock must have worn off because suddenly he was straddling Derek, his hands on his hair, his mouth moving on his and Derek had never felt more alive in his life. He could have sworn that there were fireworks.

They broke apart a few minutes later, both of them panting. Derek had a hand up the back of Stiles shirt and Stiles had his hands fisted in Derek’s hair.  “The fireworks started,” Derek muttered into Stiles’ neck.

“There are fireworks every year,” Stiles said, his mouth against Derek’s ear as he spoke, sending a jolt down Derek’s spine. “I don’t know if I’ll ever get you again.”

Derek opened his mouth to respond but Stiles bit down on his earlobe at that moment and his brain short-circuited.  Instead of words, he heard himself groan and then he flipped Stiles so that he was under him and he had a hand on either side of his face.  “You’ll have me again, any time you like.”

This time, when Derek’s lips touched Stiles’ he tried to put everything he was feeling into the kiss.  He ran his fingers through Stiles’ soft hair and kissed him sweetly. He pulled back and watched Stiles’ face, lit up by the colors across the sky, and saw that he was gazing back at him, looking at gutted as Derek felt. “Any time?”

Derek nodded and kissed him again.  It wasn’t like other kisses; it felt like everything Derek had imaged kissing would be like before he had ever done it.  It was almost as if he was watching it happen from outside his body.  

When they broke apart the next time Derek said, “We should go inside; I don’t want to risk falling off the roof.”

“There are _people_ inside, Derek; I can’t do the things I want to do to you with people around,” Stiles said. His voice carried the tiniest whine and Derek couldn’t help but smile.

“Inside the treehouse, you idiot,” He said, his voice nothing but affectionate.

“Oh, yeah I can do that,” Stiles said, following Derek into the treehouse and promptly pulled him to the floor where they resumed kissing, this time with more intent behind it.

Later that night, long after the fireworks had ended, Derek and Stiles lay on mismatched pile of beanbags, pillows, and discarded clothing, the lone blanket that was left from the winter thrown across their bare waists.  “We should have done that sooner,” Stiles said into Derek’s neck, his breath warm.

“I didn’t think you liked me,” Derek admitted, his arms tightening around Stiles.

“You’re an idiot,” Stiles replied, kissing Derek’s neck softly. “But I did think you wanted to eat me that first week.”

“I did,” Derek said, his voice low and rough.  He moved so he could bite Stiles’ neck. “Just not in a big bad wolf way.”

“In a sexy way,” Stiles said with a laugh.  He kissed Derek and then said, “Time for a post sex nap.”

Derek hummed in agreement, letting his eyes slide shut.  He woke later to the sun streaming across his face, Stiles was still next to him, but one leg was now thrown across Derek’s middle and his mouth was open slightly. He looked adorable.

“Where are Derek and Stiles?” Derek heard Brandon ask, moving closer to the treehouse with every word.

“Shit,” Derek muttered, but didn’t make any move to get up, he just adjusted the blanket to make sure they were both covered.

Brandon came into the treehouse a moment later and then stopped in his tracks, his eyes wide. “No way.”

Stiles groaned sleepily, smacked his lips, and rolled to nuzzle closer to Derek. “Dude, you’re so warm,” Stiles said as he cuddled into him.

“No fucking way,” Brandon said, then he turned away from them. “Don’t come up here, it reeks of sex and I’m never going to unsee what I just saw,” he called and jumped out of the treehouse.

Stiles cuddled closer to Derek and said, “Well that’s awkward.”

“I WON!” Derek heard Brandon scream when he got to the house and Derek laughed.

“They bet on us.”

“Not surprising at all,” Stiles said, kissing Derek’s neck and and adding, “Think we have time for another round before they descend upon us?”

Derek could hear voices from the house, probably talking about the bet. “They’re not going to come up this way if it really smells as bad as Brandon says it does.”

“Perfect,” Stiles said, kissing down Derek’s chest. “I’m going to take my time with you then.”

Derek’s head fell back onto the beanbag chair he was using as a pillow and his eyes shut as Stiles teased him.  He knew that they’d have to talk later about what this was, about the distance while they were at college, about the future, but for now he was going to let himself enjoy the feel of Stiles mouth on him, the warm feeling in his stomach, and the fact that this felt more right than anything else in his life ever had.


	17. Chapter 17

**Epilogue - 4 years later**

Derek had settled into adult life quite nicely, and by that he meant that he had a job he loved, his own apartment, and a boyfriend that he got to come home to every night. Honestly, Derek had never really settled into the college lifestyle. He didn’t like going out and partying until three in the morning, he didn’t like to exist on caffeine and ramen noodles alone, and he liked the comfort of  _ home _ .  

The last two years of college were some of the best and hardest years of Derek’s life, because now he wasn’t just hundreds of miles away from his family, he was also hundreds of miles away from Stiles, who had quickly made a permanent home for himself in Derek’s head and in his heart. 

They made it work; Stiles came down to visit once a month, Derek went up to visit just as often, and during baseball and lacrosse season they would go to any games they could, but it wasn’t enough, especially not after Stiles had spent the next summer with them too.  Derek had only been surprised to learn that Stiles wasn’t planning on being the McCall Pack emissary; he was training with Morrell so he could take over as the Hale Pack’s.

Derek smiled to himself as he pulled his Toyota SUV onto the newly paved parking pad next to the house. He had traded in his truck when he got a job that paid him more than minimum wage, but Stiles still teased him about his soccer mom car.  Derek just thought it was sensible since Stiles still drove his Jeep and it was  _ constantly _ breaking down, usually on the side of the road late at night.  Said Jeep was parked at an angle on the pad and Derek walked past it to get into the house.

“Wonderful, you’re here, we can get started,” Talia said as Derek walked in, kissed Stiles, and took a seat in the living room. “I wanted to gather you all here because I want to retire.”

For a moment the room was completely silent; then Laura spoke. “From work or from being the alpha?”

“Both,” Talia said, leaning back and looking at Stiles, who was bouncing on his toes. “Stiles is going to perform the transfer of powers.”

“I’m not ready!” Laura said, her eyes wide.

“The ritual doesn’t pass it to a specific person,” Stiles said evenly. “It passes to it to the person who is most able to bear the power and use it correctly.”

Laura’s eyes flicked to Derek quickly and then back to their mom. “Okay.”

Stiles stood up, motioned for Talia to join him, and then drew a rune on her palm in something that looked a lot like blood.  Derek felt the power in the room, he felt the air still at Stiles command, felt as everyone in the room watched him.  Over the last few years, Stiles had become a force to be reckoned with; people didn’t mess with him because they knew that they’d incur his wrath. 

Stiles voice rang out across the room in Latin and suddenly Derek felt like there was a rope connecting to him to his mother that pulled him to his feet and drew him to her.  His breath left his chest and his eyes closed for a moment before they opened again, but he could tell they were burning red.  

“You owe me twenty bucks,” Matt said as Derek stepped away from their mom, whose eyes were fading from bright alpha red to gold.

“You bet against me?” Laura said, only sounding a little offended. 

Derek tuned them all out, his heart was pounding in his chest and his eyes found Stiles who was grinning at him. “Called it.”

He felt a hand on his shoulder and saw his mom next to him. “I thought it would be you,” Talia said, her voice quiet and her eyes soft as she looked at him.  She brought her hand up to cup his face.

“Do I look different?” He asked, knowing he sounded kind of like a child as he did.

“Different, but still beautiful.”

“Mom make Cora pay me, she lost our bet,” Matt said, breaking up their moment. 

“I’m not the alpha anymore,” Talia said, raising her hands in a ‘what can you do’ motion and then added, “try asking your new one.”

“I’m staying out of it,” Derek said with a laugh.

“We’ll talk later,” Talia said to him, kissing him on the temple. “You’ll probably want a few days to adjust before I start giving you the rundown of stuff that Marin may have forgotten to tell you.”

“Those  _ were _ alpha lessons,” Laura said, eyeing her mom, “Why didn’t you make me go?”

“I offered it to everyone; only Derek wanted it,” Talia said with a knowing smile. 

Derek felt Stiles’ hand on his arm and let himself be guided out of the house. “Are you okay to drive or do you want to leave your car here?”

He probably could have driven, but all of his senses were in overdrive, or maybe that was just what it was to be an alpha.  “Can you drive?”

When they got back to their apartment, Stiles said, “I had a feeling it would be you.”

“Why?” Derek asked, rolling his shoulders and feeling new muscles ripple as he did.  He would have to get used to carrying the added weight around; he hadn’t expected that, but then again he hadn’t expected to become the alpha. 

Stiles looked at him like he had just asked why the sky is blue. “You’re a natural leader, you care about the pack, you want to learn how to make it better, you’re always there for your family when they need you, you’re the perfect candidate for an alpha.”

“I guess,” Derek said, flopping onto the couch a little harder than he had meant to. “I hope Laura’s not mad.”

“Laura never really wanted to be the alpha,” Stiles said and there wasn’t the trace of a lie in his voice or heartbeat. 

“So I’m the alpha now,” Derek said, the words sinking in as he spoke them.  He rolled over a little on the couch and pulled Stiles down next to him. “Does that mean you’re my emissary?”

“It would appear so,” Stiles said with a grin.

“Remember what that book that Morrell gave you said about alphas and emissaries that are romantically linked?” Derek asked, leaning forward and kissing Stiles on the neck, then nipped at his ear before pulling back.

“Something about them being the best pairs,” Stiles said with a smile, “that they balance each other and keep the peace best in packs.”

“Well I guess we’ll just have to stay together then, for the pack,” Derek said, lifting Stiles with his newly acquired alpha muscles and putting him on his lap before nuzzling into his neck, drinking in his scent, stronger than ever because of his even more enhanced sense of smell. 

“If it’s for the pack,” Stiles said with a long suffering sigh.  He leaned back against Derek and added, “You put on muscle already?”  
“Like ‘em?” Derek growled into Stiles ear, holding him tightly.

“You could say that,” Stiles said, turning to kiss Derek and Derek could feel the spark between them, the bonds of pack, of alpha and emissary, of their love.  It was like the book that mentioned all those years ago; it felt like balance.

“We’re going to have to deal with a pack of over 30 werewolves for the rest of our lives,” Derek said to Stiles, his eyes wide.  “I have to be the alpha.”

“Relax, we’ve got this,” Stiles said, kissing Derek on the nose. “You’re mom’s been training us for years.”

“How did I not realize that was what she was doing?” Derek asked with a laugh. “Why me and not Matt or Brandon, or Cora, or Nora, or any of the cousins?”

“Der,” Stiles said, his voice soft. “You’re fair, you don’t let people push you into doing stuff, well, except me, but I don’t count. It was always going to be you; I think your mom knew that.”

“As long as you’re with me,” Derek said, kissing Stiles again.  He knew that Matt could be his second, that Brandon would be there with him every step of the way, and that Laura wouldn’t be that mad, because not being the alpha meant she could travel like she wanted to. Cora would stand by him and fight for him if he asked, and everyone would support him, but he needed Stiles by his side to keep him grounded, to make sure he didn’t let all the new power go to his head.

“Every step of the way,” Stiles said with a smile, leaning against Derek’s chest. And he would be there every step of the way.  He would be there for Derek’s first treaty negotiation, for his first border dispute; he was there to see Derek win that fight, he was there to  _ help _ Derek win that fight.  But he was also there for more than the pack stuff.  He was next to Derek, holding his hand, as they said their wedding vows, in the hospital when their first child was born. He was there for Derek whenever he needed him, and Derek was there for him right back.

  
If anyone ever saw a kid running around Beacon Hills with messy dark hair, pale eyes, and sharp cheekbones hidden under baby-fat cheeks, they knew it was a Hale. There were so many Hale relatives running around Beacon Hills these days that it was hard to keep them straight, but their parents alway seemed to have a handle on them.  It didn’t hurt that there were so many aunts, uncles, cousins, and grandparents there to help, it didn’t hurt that they all mostly got along and that they were as close as a family could be, and it really didn’t hurt that they were werewolves. 

**Author's Note:**

> [tumblr](sterekseason.tumblr.com)


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